Betrayal
Brittany’s heart pounded in her chest as she sat in the small, dimly lit room, her mind racing. The god’s ultimatum had shattered them both. The choice was unbearable, the pressure suffocating. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape the weight of it. To save Santana, she knew she couldn’t let the god win. There had to be another way, a way to outsmart it, something, anything to break free from its grip.
But what Brittany didn’t realise was that in her desperation, she was playing with fire.
In the silence of that room, Brittany found herself poring over old texts, dusty journals she and Santana had come across during their search for answers. They had tried everything, even things that seemed impossible, and yet here they were, standing at the edge of a decision they couldn't bear to make. But there was something in the small print of an ancient book that caught Brittany's eye. It wasn’t a solution, it was a loophole. A way to cheat the curse.
But at what cost?
The plan was dangerous, reckless even. She knew it. Santana would never approve of it. Yet, Brittany was willing to risk it all. If she could just outwit the god, if she could trick it into thinking one of them had made the sacrifice, then perhaps they could both escape. There had to be a way. She just had to make there be a way.
In that moment, Brittany thought she was acting out of love. She believed with all her heart that she was doing this to save Santana, to ensure that neither of them would have to die. But as the words left her lips in a whispered incantation, she realised that she had made a choice; one that would set off a chain of events they might not be able to undo.
She had betrayed Santana.
The air in the room felt like it had been sucked out, and the silence between them was deafening when Santana found out. The truth hit her like a punch to the gut. Brittany had done it—she had tried to cheat the god.
She didn’t know why, at first. But the way Brittany had looked at her, the way she had seemed so certain, was a red flag Santana had ignored.
“You did what?” Santana’s voice was a low growl, as dangerous as it was wounded. She stood there, glaring at Brittany, her fists clenched by her sides.
“I—I thought I could save us,” Brittany stammered, stepping back as though to distance herself from the storm brewing in Santana’s eyes. “I found something. A way around the curse. A loophole, I thought… Maybe it would work.”
“A loophole?” Santana repeated, her voice rising with a mixture of disbelief and fury. “You thought you could outsmart the god? Do you realise what you’ve done, Brittany? You can’t just—”
Her words caught in her throat as the magnitude of the betrayal settled over her. Every word, every promise they had made, every moment they had shared, suddenly felt so fragile. Brittany had acted without consulting her, without thinking about the consequences for both of them. In her desperation, she had risked everything. For what?
“I didn’t want to lose you, Santana. I thought—” Brittany’s voice faltered, her chest tight with emotion. “I thought maybe we could find another way, a way that wouldn’t end with one of us dead. I didn’t want to make that choice. Not like that.”
But the words only seemed to inflame Santana’s anger.
"You betrayed me!" Santana shouted, her eyes blazing with hurt. “You think this is just some game? You think I don’t care about what happens to you? We both knew the price! We’ve both been living with this damn curse! But you, you, just decided to throw it all away for some stupid chance at a way out? Do you even understand what you’ve done?”
Brittany’s heart broke at the hurt in Santana’s voice. She never meant to hurt her, never wanted to betray her trust. But all of this, the curse, the pressure, the constant fear that one of them would die, it had driven her to the edge. She had only wanted to protect Santana, to save her from the fate they had been handed.
“I didn’t want to betray you, Santana. I didn’t—” Brittany began, but her words were swallowed by the pain and fury in Santana’s eyes.
“I trusted you!” Santana snapped, her voice cracking with emotion. “You think I don’t know what this curse is doing to us? You think I haven’t been fighting to keep it together every single day? And you go behind my back and try to fix it on your own? What the hell is wrong with you, Brittany?”
The anger was there, sharp, cutting, but so was something else. It was that same fear that had haunted them both for so long. Fear of the curse. Fear of losing each other.
But Santana wasn’t sure who she was angrier with anymore. The god? Sure. But Brittany—Brittany was the one who had gone behind her back. *Brittany was the one who had endangered them both.*
“I never meant for this to happen,” Brittany said quietly, her eyes filled with regret. She had no excuses, no way to make it right. “I just… I just didn’t want to lose you.”
Santana took a shaky breath, her eyes darting to the floor as her body trembled. “I don’t know who you are anymore,” she whispered, the words breaking her. “You weren’t supposed to keep secrets from me, Brittany. Not like this.”
Brittany’s throat tightened, tears welling in her eyes. “Santana, please, I—”
And then it happened.
A violent wave of emotion swept over Santana. A surge of anger, confusion, and fear, all coiling inside of her. The rage that had been building up inside of her for weeks, for months, was too much to contain.
With a primal roar, Santana lunged forward, her hand flying through the air, slapping Brittany across the face.
It wasn’t hard, Santana was holding back, but it felt like it should have been. She expected Brittany to fall back, to cry out, but the only thing that followed was silence. A silence so heavy, so thick, that it almost suffocated them both.
Brittany stood there, stunned. Her cheek stung, but it was nothing compared to the hurt she felt in her heart.
"I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted to be the reason for your pain," Brittany whispered, almost choking on the words. "But I’ve made so many mistakes… and I’m so sorry."
The moment hung in the air, suspended between them, the weight of everything they had endured crashing down. The curse, the fear, the betrayal, they were all too much.
But in that silence, as the pain hung between them, something else was there. Something raw, something they hadn’t let themselves face until now: the love they had for each other. It was buried under all the hurt, but it was still there.
It would always be there.