Brittana One-Shots

Chasing Sunlight

Everybody's life is filled with hills and valleys, and through those hills and valleys, the sun appears and disappears from sight, even though it is always there. The sun rises on someone's life when they are born, and it stays in their sight until they fall into their first valley. Most children don't hit valleys big enough to notice until they're older, and the small ones barely faze them, as they continue running through the sunlight.

I hit my first noticeable valley when my grandma died; I was ten years old. I only noticed it because I couldn't feel the sun hitting my face anymore. As quickly as I'd gone down into the valley, though, I got up and ran out of it. The sun warmed my skin again when my parents got me a kitten.

During high school, my hills and valleys were more frequent and hid more sunshine from my life. Still, I had yet to hit a huge valley; my parents made my life happy, and I was mostly content.

After graduation, I saw that ahead of me was a hill that seemed to disappear into the sky. The hill blocked the sun, but I knew that whatever was at the top would make me very happy. So, I tried to get to the top as fast as my legs could carry me. During parts of my journey, there was some sun, but it was mostly gone from my view during the climb.

About halfway up the hill, I had a job that I enjoyed as a back-up dancer. That was when the sun came into view again. Through my job, I met my soulmate. Her name was Santana. We got married and had a beautiful baby girl, who we named Valentina Dawn, her first name meaning "strong." I imagined how her life looked to her, with a beautiful sun rise beginning her life of happiness, and I hoped that she would never experience deep valleys in her life.

I was on top of the large hill that had brought me more happiness than I could imagine, and the sun was shining down on me in full force. I wished to stay on top of the hill forever, but I knew that it was impossible. I looked ahead as little as possible, trying to enjoy life in the moment instead of waiting for when the hill would inevitably decline again.

I was confused when at the start of the decline, Santana told me that she was pregnant again. I couldn't imagine that having another baby welcomed into our family would happen in the shadows. The slope kept increasing, though, and soon I was tumbling down the hill with a single phone call. My wife and daughter had been coming home from her mom's house when a truck ran a red light and hit their car. Valentina managed to leave the accident with nothing more than a broken arm, but my wife didn't make it, and neither did the baby she was carrying.

The fall was long and painful. When I reached the bottom of my deepest valley, I was filled with a crippling depression and couldn't see the sun no matter how hard I tried, but I got up and continued on my way out of the valley; I needed to be strong for my daughter.

This was a much harder climb than the climb up my first large hill. This time, though, I was climbing out of a valley and not up a hill. During my climb, my daughter grew up. I knew she experienced much worse valleys than I had as a child, but I couldn't do much to help her. When she was sixteen, I was diagnosed with cancer. She moved out to live with my deceased wife's parents when I became too sick to stay at home. 

I continued pushing through the exhausting climb towards the light. The rest of the climb was hard, but at least I hit some sunshine when Valentina graduated and later got married. The doctors had said that I was too sick to go to her wedding, but I made it; I couldn't miss it.

When I finished my climb, I was on a flat surface. The sky was turning into an array of beautiful colors as the sun was setting on my life. I knew that my life was coming to an end, but as I looked back, I didn't feel any regret. Even in all the sadness I'd experienced, I'd had a wonderful life. I looked at the sky that was changing in each moment. Then, thinking of seeing my wife again, I lay down to bask in the final moments of sunshine and happiness in my life.

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A/N: This is from Brittany's point of view, in case you could not tell. I got this idea for a Brittana one-shot AU while doing an assignment for school, which was writing a short story based on a song. This is based off the song "Chasing Sunlight" by Cait Nishimura.