fic: Brave New Heart (1/4)
Title: Brave New Heart
Author: heartsofgravity
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~2,600 this part, 16,000 total
Pairings: Blaine/Rachel, Blaine/Kurt (eventual)
Summary: Blaine took a deep breath, looked around the area to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and confided in his friend. "Do you think I'm…normal? For someone of my class, that is. I just have this feeling of severe inferiority to everybody here. I can't help it."
Blaine lives in the World State, a society where promiscuity is a trait that is deemed "wholesome", but feelings are thrown aside. He feels differently, and risks being sent into isolation when he travels to the Reservation with Rachel and meets Kurt.
Warnings: Dystopian society, homophobic language
Disclaimer: I own neither Glee and it's characters, nor do I own Brave New World and it's respective characters.
A/N: This is something that I started almost right after school got out. We had just read Brave New World, and I wondered how Kurt and Blaine would react if they lived in a world such as that, so this is my take on what would happen. Note that this also contains other characters from the show, but I used them in order to fill some of the characters from the novel. This is only based on the book, so you don't have to read it to understand this (hopefully).
The students made their way, simply following the Director in their tour of the Central New York Hatching and Conditioning Center, making the rounds of the premises while the woman in charge rattled off pointless statistics about how humans are engineered there.
"As you can see, boys, we are able to produce something unprecedented to the world, right here in this laboratory. We are able to make copies of other humans, by taking just one egg from the female specimen and fertilizing it. We can make up to ninety-six of the same person from one. It's incredible. We will have a working class like no other in the world. Just try to wrap your brains around the possibilities." She smiled smugly to the group and moved on from the spot where she stood in front of the test tubes containing the eggs of the future working caste of the World State and briskly walked into the next room, the group of young boys eagerly following her.
"And here is where we determine the caste into which the embryos will be sorted into. Of course, you all know your caste, which is why you are here learning about this. The first group, the Alphas-like you-goes into this first room. Nothing is changed. The same goes for the Betas. But then the third and fourth and so on are sorted as Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each group receives a special treatment based on what they are so they are more suited to their jobs. Epsilons need less free thought, so we cure them of that burden and condition them that way." The last room she gestured to closed its doors and a red flashing light went on, indicating the lack of oxygen in the room. Every last bit of it was sucked from the room to ensure the proper conditioning that the Epsilons would receive from their determined caste. The group scribbled notes onto the pads of paper they carried with them.
"Mind blowing, isn't it?" asked the Director. She was a pretty woman, one of the Alpha-Plus caste with golden honey locks and a voice just as smooth. She flipped her hair back and smiled at the group of boys. They stared at her in awe, hardly able to contain their attraction to her. She knew their struggle but it only seemed to empower her. Quinn Fabray was meant to be in control.
-O-
Rachel Berry sat in the club alongside her on-again, off-again friend Jesse St. James.
"So, Rachel, who's taking you out tomorrow night?" he inquired, taking a sip of the drink in front of him.
She shrugged. "Oh, you know, Finn Hudson. He's offered to take me to the feelies." Jesse sat up straighter.
"Rachel. You can't. What is this with Finn? This has been going on for three months now. You've been spending far too much time with him!" He grabbed her wrist. "You don't want people to start talking about you like that."
She sighed. "But Jesse, he's so nice! And he buys me the nicest things! Sometimes I like to pretend that there's no one else but him and I -"
Jesse cut her off. "Rachel, you can't talk like that. Do you want to get arrested? Damn it, I thought you had a lot more sense than that as an Alpha." He turned back to his drink and downed it. "Promise me you'll start seeing more people."
-O-
Finn Hudson sat on the bench in the changing room, talking to his good friend Noah Puckerman. They were discussing the matter of all the girls and guys they had had, and Finn was encouraging Puck to take out more girls with good reputations.
"Dude, you should take out that Santana girl. She gets it on with everybody. If you want to improve your image, you have to take her out. You should be seen with a good girl like her."
-O-
Quinn led the group to yet another room that resembled a nursery that housed hundreds of babies. Each crib was wired to a network of cables that ran to a central place on the middle of the far wall. A projector set up in the room showed pictures of books and flowers and fluffy animals. The babies made cooing noises and sat up in their cribs to get a better look at it, but when they least expected it, the worker in the room flipped the switch on the panel in front of her and the room was filled with a tooth-numbing buzzing.
The babies shrieked in terror and writhed in pain as the shock went through to them. The group widened their eyes but said nothing as the torture continued, then stopped abruptly. The pictures were shown again, but this time the babies cowered in the corners of their cribs, desperate to get away from the horrible images that caused them all the pain.
-O-
"I don't know, man. She's really good. Even I haven't been with that many people. I would look like someone who belongs in prison compared to her." Puck shook his head. "What about someone else?" he inquired.
-O-
The students were led into a room with a large television screen and they crowded around to watch the short program. A flash of red stretched across the screen, then they see her on the television. The Coach.
She sat in her chair and swiveled around to face the boys. "Hello future employees. No doubt you are here today to learn about how our world is run and made, and I'm here to explain a few things to you. You see, this world used to be disgustingly corrupt. Then, things started to change. By the time I was offered this position, things were running smoothly, and it's my job to keep it that way. Do you know why we have things the way we do here?" The glare through the screen was intense. "Don't worry; I don't expect your little minds to know."
-O-
Rachel stirred her drink around. "What's the harm in seeing Finn still?" she asked quietly.
Jesse looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious right now? Rachel, I can't fucking believe you. You just can't. What are people going to say about you? You're lucky enough to be an Alpha so they haven't said too much yet, but mark my words, they're going to start saying something soon if you don't start seeing other people."
-O-
"You see, strong emotion, inspired by family relationships, sexual repression, and delayed satisfaction of desire, goes directly against stability. Without stability, civilization cannot exist. Before the existence of the World State, the instability caused by strong emotions led to disease, war, and social unrest that resulted in millions of deaths and untold suffering and misery. That is why this world was created, out of the failure of the old world. Everybody is happy, and everybody is happy because everyone else is happy."
"Without this, our world would fail, just like the previous one did. And that's how Sue Sylvester "sees" it." She finished her short speech by making a "C" with her hand and winking through the screen, then it faded to black. The group of students erupted in applause.
-O-
Finn thought for a moment. "Well, there's Rachel Berry. I'm taking her out tomorrow night. You should have a go with her. She's a lot of fun, even if she is a little demanding."
Blaine Anderson sat a couple of locker rows back, listening in to the conversation between the two men. He was vaguely disgusted with their talk. They seemed to consider Rachel as just another girl that they could easily get. He wanted to say something, but he knew that he would be thrown into jail or something if he did. That kind of talk was treasonous.
-O-
The group was now outside, observing the children in play. A girl was engaging a boy in a harmlessly sexual game, and they were having fun. The students became fully relaxed at that, thankful to see some normalcy after the images from the nursery. Sue Sylvester's speech cheered them up, but they needed the reassurance of seeing things in action before they could completely calm down. The only thing that would be worse would be the mention of the taboo, but nobody was stupid or even brave enough to say the words aloud. The thought of a parent was too forbidden, too unusual, too horrifying to evenwant to mention that it was largely ignored.
-O-
Jesse stared at Rachel angrily. "Come on, Rachel. Promise me. Why don't you go out with that Blaine what's-his-name? He's been getting a lot of acclaim for his recent study. Didn't you say that he asked you on that trip to Ohio or something? Go with him, and I'm sure he'll show you a good time."
-O-
"Alright, man. I'll take her out sometime. She better be a lot of fun, like you said."
Finn grinned at Puck. "Oh, trust me, she is."
-O-
The last stop on the tour was a room full of sleeping children all around the ages of six and seven. Each of them wore a pair of headphones, but the voice could be heard since it was playing on the speakers embedded in the ceilings. "Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas, but they are still smarter than the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas…"The voice repeated over and over the message, ingraining it into the children's minds, who wore the light blue colors of a Beta.
Quinn explained the concept of hypnopaedia. "Hypnopaedia is essentially sleep teaching. It was discovered years ago, through a method that most of you would find offending, but we must know it for only our scientific research. The lesson will be repeated one hundred and twenty times, three times a week, for thirty months. That will ensure memorization of the morals we introduce here. It is perhaps the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time." The look on her face was purely one of deep thought for the potential of the World State and its use of hypnopaedia.
-O-
Rachel turned back to Jesse. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start something. I'll go with Blaine."
Jesse wrapped his arms around her. "Now there's a good girl." He took her glass and raised it to her lips. "Drink up. I wanna get out of here and back to my place for some fun." She obliged, and they slipped out of the club, a little tispy, but able to get back to Jesse's apartment.
He went to his mini bar and pulled out a bottle of liquor and took a drag straight from it. He offered it to her and she took a long drink from it as well. Thoughts became cloudier as the bottle was emptied and the clothes came off, but they didn't care. It was all a part of the society they had come to know, and it was the only way to do their part of contributing to the whole happiness of the world.
-O-
Quinn turned brightly to the group. "Now you see what we're about here at the Center. Hopefully you will all be able to fill out your future jobs here to your full potential. I'm sure Our Coach would be proud to see you all here." At the mention of The Coach, everybody made the sign of an "S" across their chest. She spoke up again. "Remember. Community, Identity, Stability."
-O-
Rachel wasn't really sure how much she liked Blaine Anderson. Sure, he was extremely handsome, smart, and charming, but that came standard with being an Alpha-Plus. There was just some sort of unsettling difference about him that she really didn't like. But then again, she didn't know him all that well. Maybe this trip would change her mind.
She met him at his helicopter pad, with her bags packed and ready to be loaded. He waved to her, and pointed to one of the Delta-Minus attendants to help her with her bags. He gestured to her to go ahead and find a seat, and that he would meet her in there. She followed his instructions, and after he watched her board the helicopter, he turned to his friend beside him.
Wesley Ngyuen was another Alpha-Plus, known for his studies at the College of Emotional Engineering. He was a good looking man, with dark hair and tanned skin, perfect for what one would picture for someone of his caste. He looked at his friend. "Blaine, you can't hide things from me. Something is bothering you. You're becoming withdrawn, and it's not just me that's noticing it." He looked expectantly at him.
Blaine took a deep breath, looked around the area to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and confided in his friend. "Do you think I'm…normal? For someone of my class, that is. I just have this feeling of severe inferiority to everybody here. I can't help it."
Wes gave him a hard look, but one that betrayed a concern for Blaine. "Why do you think you feel that way, Blaine?"
Blaine shook his head and laughed uncomfortably. "That's the thing! I don't know! Is it because I'm so damn short? Or because I don't look like everybody else? Why do you think I style my hair this way, Wes? My hair isn't straight like everybody else's. If I grew it out, then it would look like some sort of nest! I don't feel like I fit in with this caste. I know I'm smart enough, damn it, but why do I look differently?"
Wes' look softened. "I think you know the answer to that, Blaine."
"Yeah, well every day I wish it didn't have to be this hard to be so different. I'm not supposed to be like this. Why can't I be just like everybody else?" He kicked angrily at a rock on the ground, sending it skittering across the pavement.
"Maybe you're not meant to be like everybody else, Blaine." He took in Blaine's shocked expression at his words. "Don't start on me. I know what I'm talking about, just not now. I can't tell you here. Perhaps when you return, though. I promise." He tried to smile to brighten the situation, but Blaine wasn't paying any attention so Wes gave up.
"Come on. Just go and have a fun time with Rachel. She is an upstanding girl, and it'll give your reputation a boost when people hear that you were with her." He pushed Blaine towards the helicopter and stood by the door with him. "I promise I'll tell you. Just - not now. I'm still figuring it out."
He left Blaine standing in the doorway, staring after Wes while he walked away. When Blaine couldn't see him anymore, he turned and climbed in the copter and slid into the seat next to Rachel. As soon as he belted himself in, she swung her legs up onto his lap and hummed lazily.
"So I was thinking that once we got to Ohio that we could find a little club and have some fun. What do you think about that?"
Blaine wasn't listening, but he nodded absentmindedly and stared into space at the scenery that blurred past them as the copter shot off noisily towards Ohio in the distant horizon.
Part Two
Author: heartsofgravity
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~2,600 this part, 16,000 total
Pairings: Blaine/Rachel, Blaine/Kurt (eventual)
Summary: Blaine took a deep breath, looked around the area to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and confided in his friend. "Do you think I'm…normal? For someone of my class, that is. I just have this feeling of severe inferiority to everybody here. I can't help it."
Blaine lives in the World State, a society where promiscuity is a trait that is deemed "wholesome", but feelings are thrown aside. He feels differently, and risks being sent into isolation when he travels to the Reservation with Rachel and meets Kurt.
Warnings: Dystopian society, homophobic language
Disclaimer: I own neither Glee and it's characters, nor do I own Brave New World and it's respective characters.
A/N: This is something that I started almost right after school got out. We had just read Brave New World, and I wondered how Kurt and Blaine would react if they lived in a world such as that, so this is my take on what would happen. Note that this also contains other characters from the show, but I used them in order to fill some of the characters from the novel. This is only based on the book, so you don't have to read it to understand this (hopefully).
The students made their way, simply following the Director in their tour of the Central New York Hatching and Conditioning Center, making the rounds of the premises while the woman in charge rattled off pointless statistics about how humans are engineered there.
"As you can see, boys, we are able to produce something unprecedented to the world, right here in this laboratory. We are able to make copies of other humans, by taking just one egg from the female specimen and fertilizing it. We can make up to ninety-six of the same person from one. It's incredible. We will have a working class like no other in the world. Just try to wrap your brains around the possibilities." She smiled smugly to the group and moved on from the spot where she stood in front of the test tubes containing the eggs of the future working caste of the World State and briskly walked into the next room, the group of young boys eagerly following her.
"And here is where we determine the caste into which the embryos will be sorted into. Of course, you all know your caste, which is why you are here learning about this. The first group, the Alphas-like you-goes into this first room. Nothing is changed. The same goes for the Betas. But then the third and fourth and so on are sorted as Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each group receives a special treatment based on what they are so they are more suited to their jobs. Epsilons need less free thought, so we cure them of that burden and condition them that way." The last room she gestured to closed its doors and a red flashing light went on, indicating the lack of oxygen in the room. Every last bit of it was sucked from the room to ensure the proper conditioning that the Epsilons would receive from their determined caste. The group scribbled notes onto the pads of paper they carried with them.
"Mind blowing, isn't it?" asked the Director. She was a pretty woman, one of the Alpha-Plus caste with golden honey locks and a voice just as smooth. She flipped her hair back and smiled at the group of boys. They stared at her in awe, hardly able to contain their attraction to her. She knew their struggle but it only seemed to empower her. Quinn Fabray was meant to be in control.
-O-
Rachel Berry sat in the club alongside her on-again, off-again friend Jesse St. James.
"So, Rachel, who's taking you out tomorrow night?" he inquired, taking a sip of the drink in front of him.
She shrugged. "Oh, you know, Finn Hudson. He's offered to take me to the feelies." Jesse sat up straighter.
"Rachel. You can't. What is this with Finn? This has been going on for three months now. You've been spending far too much time with him!" He grabbed her wrist. "You don't want people to start talking about you like that."
She sighed. "But Jesse, he's so nice! And he buys me the nicest things! Sometimes I like to pretend that there's no one else but him and I -"
Jesse cut her off. "Rachel, you can't talk like that. Do you want to get arrested? Damn it, I thought you had a lot more sense than that as an Alpha." He turned back to his drink and downed it. "Promise me you'll start seeing more people."
-O-
Finn Hudson sat on the bench in the changing room, talking to his good friend Noah Puckerman. They were discussing the matter of all the girls and guys they had had, and Finn was encouraging Puck to take out more girls with good reputations.
"Dude, you should take out that Santana girl. She gets it on with everybody. If you want to improve your image, you have to take her out. You should be seen with a good girl like her."
-O-
Quinn led the group to yet another room that resembled a nursery that housed hundreds of babies. Each crib was wired to a network of cables that ran to a central place on the middle of the far wall. A projector set up in the room showed pictures of books and flowers and fluffy animals. The babies made cooing noises and sat up in their cribs to get a better look at it, but when they least expected it, the worker in the room flipped the switch on the panel in front of her and the room was filled with a tooth-numbing buzzing.
The babies shrieked in terror and writhed in pain as the shock went through to them. The group widened their eyes but said nothing as the torture continued, then stopped abruptly. The pictures were shown again, but this time the babies cowered in the corners of their cribs, desperate to get away from the horrible images that caused them all the pain.
-O-
"I don't know, man. She's really good. Even I haven't been with that many people. I would look like someone who belongs in prison compared to her." Puck shook his head. "What about someone else?" he inquired.
-O-
The students were led into a room with a large television screen and they crowded around to watch the short program. A flash of red stretched across the screen, then they see her on the television. The Coach.
She sat in her chair and swiveled around to face the boys. "Hello future employees. No doubt you are here today to learn about how our world is run and made, and I'm here to explain a few things to you. You see, this world used to be disgustingly corrupt. Then, things started to change. By the time I was offered this position, things were running smoothly, and it's my job to keep it that way. Do you know why we have things the way we do here?" The glare through the screen was intense. "Don't worry; I don't expect your little minds to know."
-O-
Rachel stirred her drink around. "What's the harm in seeing Finn still?" she asked quietly.
Jesse looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious right now? Rachel, I can't fucking believe you. You just can't. What are people going to say about you? You're lucky enough to be an Alpha so they haven't said too much yet, but mark my words, they're going to start saying something soon if you don't start seeing other people."
-O-
"You see, strong emotion, inspired by family relationships, sexual repression, and delayed satisfaction of desire, goes directly against stability. Without stability, civilization cannot exist. Before the existence of the World State, the instability caused by strong emotions led to disease, war, and social unrest that resulted in millions of deaths and untold suffering and misery. That is why this world was created, out of the failure of the old world. Everybody is happy, and everybody is happy because everyone else is happy."
"Without this, our world would fail, just like the previous one did. And that's how Sue Sylvester "sees" it." She finished her short speech by making a "C" with her hand and winking through the screen, then it faded to black. The group of students erupted in applause.
-O-
Finn thought for a moment. "Well, there's Rachel Berry. I'm taking her out tomorrow night. You should have a go with her. She's a lot of fun, even if she is a little demanding."
Blaine Anderson sat a couple of locker rows back, listening in to the conversation between the two men. He was vaguely disgusted with their talk. They seemed to consider Rachel as just another girl that they could easily get. He wanted to say something, but he knew that he would be thrown into jail or something if he did. That kind of talk was treasonous.
-O-
The group was now outside, observing the children in play. A girl was engaging a boy in a harmlessly sexual game, and they were having fun. The students became fully relaxed at that, thankful to see some normalcy after the images from the nursery. Sue Sylvester's speech cheered them up, but they needed the reassurance of seeing things in action before they could completely calm down. The only thing that would be worse would be the mention of the taboo, but nobody was stupid or even brave enough to say the words aloud. The thought of a parent was too forbidden, too unusual, too horrifying to evenwant to mention that it was largely ignored.
-O-
Jesse stared at Rachel angrily. "Come on, Rachel. Promise me. Why don't you go out with that Blaine what's-his-name? He's been getting a lot of acclaim for his recent study. Didn't you say that he asked you on that trip to Ohio or something? Go with him, and I'm sure he'll show you a good time."
-O-
"Alright, man. I'll take her out sometime. She better be a lot of fun, like you said."
Finn grinned at Puck. "Oh, trust me, she is."
-O-
The last stop on the tour was a room full of sleeping children all around the ages of six and seven. Each of them wore a pair of headphones, but the voice could be heard since it was playing on the speakers embedded in the ceilings. "Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas, but they are still smarter than the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas…"The voice repeated over and over the message, ingraining it into the children's minds, who wore the light blue colors of a Beta.
Quinn explained the concept of hypnopaedia. "Hypnopaedia is essentially sleep teaching. It was discovered years ago, through a method that most of you would find offending, but we must know it for only our scientific research. The lesson will be repeated one hundred and twenty times, three times a week, for thirty months. That will ensure memorization of the morals we introduce here. It is perhaps the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time." The look on her face was purely one of deep thought for the potential of the World State and its use of hypnopaedia.
-O-
Rachel turned back to Jesse. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start something. I'll go with Blaine."
Jesse wrapped his arms around her. "Now there's a good girl." He took her glass and raised it to her lips. "Drink up. I wanna get out of here and back to my place for some fun." She obliged, and they slipped out of the club, a little tispy, but able to get back to Jesse's apartment.
He went to his mini bar and pulled out a bottle of liquor and took a drag straight from it. He offered it to her and she took a long drink from it as well. Thoughts became cloudier as the bottle was emptied and the clothes came off, but they didn't care. It was all a part of the society they had come to know, and it was the only way to do their part of contributing to the whole happiness of the world.
-O-
Quinn turned brightly to the group. "Now you see what we're about here at the Center. Hopefully you will all be able to fill out your future jobs here to your full potential. I'm sure Our Coach would be proud to see you all here." At the mention of The Coach, everybody made the sign of an "S" across their chest. She spoke up again. "Remember. Community, Identity, Stability."
-O-
Rachel wasn't really sure how much she liked Blaine Anderson. Sure, he was extremely handsome, smart, and charming, but that came standard with being an Alpha-Plus. There was just some sort of unsettling difference about him that she really didn't like. But then again, she didn't know him all that well. Maybe this trip would change her mind.
She met him at his helicopter pad, with her bags packed and ready to be loaded. He waved to her, and pointed to one of the Delta-Minus attendants to help her with her bags. He gestured to her to go ahead and find a seat, and that he would meet her in there. She followed his instructions, and after he watched her board the helicopter, he turned to his friend beside him.
Wesley Ngyuen was another Alpha-Plus, known for his studies at the College of Emotional Engineering. He was a good looking man, with dark hair and tanned skin, perfect for what one would picture for someone of his caste. He looked at his friend. "Blaine, you can't hide things from me. Something is bothering you. You're becoming withdrawn, and it's not just me that's noticing it." He looked expectantly at him.
Blaine took a deep breath, looked around the area to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and confided in his friend. "Do you think I'm…normal? For someone of my class, that is. I just have this feeling of severe inferiority to everybody here. I can't help it."
Wes gave him a hard look, but one that betrayed a concern for Blaine. "Why do you think you feel that way, Blaine?"
Blaine shook his head and laughed uncomfortably. "That's the thing! I don't know! Is it because I'm so damn short? Or because I don't look like everybody else? Why do you think I style my hair this way, Wes? My hair isn't straight like everybody else's. If I grew it out, then it would look like some sort of nest! I don't feel like I fit in with this caste. I know I'm smart enough, damn it, but why do I look differently?"
Wes' look softened. "I think you know the answer to that, Blaine."
"Yeah, well every day I wish it didn't have to be this hard to be so different. I'm not supposed to be like this. Why can't I be just like everybody else?" He kicked angrily at a rock on the ground, sending it skittering across the pavement.
"Maybe you're not meant to be like everybody else, Blaine." He took in Blaine's shocked expression at his words. "Don't start on me. I know what I'm talking about, just not now. I can't tell you here. Perhaps when you return, though. I promise." He tried to smile to brighten the situation, but Blaine wasn't paying any attention so Wes gave up.
"Come on. Just go and have a fun time with Rachel. She is an upstanding girl, and it'll give your reputation a boost when people hear that you were with her." He pushed Blaine towards the helicopter and stood by the door with him. "I promise I'll tell you. Just - not now. I'm still figuring it out."
He left Blaine standing in the doorway, staring after Wes while he walked away. When Blaine couldn't see him anymore, he turned and climbed in the copter and slid into the seat next to Rachel. As soon as he belted himself in, she swung her legs up onto his lap and hummed lazily.
"So I was thinking that once we got to Ohio that we could find a little club and have some fun. What do you think about that?"
Blaine wasn't listening, but he nodded absentmindedly and stared into space at the scenery that blurred past them as the copter shot off noisily towards Ohio in the distant horizon.
Part Two