Kurt stares blankly at Pavarotti, chirping happily from behind the metal bars. He can't decide if the bird is an idiot or just genuinely content... Maybe because all the canary knows is this cage, and it doesn't realize just what it's missing. It has never met the turquoise of a summer sky. It never will.

Kurt was not raised in a cage. He knows the sky, and he misses it.

Blaine keeps insisting that he should give it time. He should relax and stop trying so hard. Everything at Dalton is easy. He regrets running away from his bullies, but not for the cowardice – he didn't feel safe, and he feels sure that escaping the danger was the right decision.

Leaving his friends, leaving the feral animals, the wild beasts that he knew was the wrong decision. Any one of them, himself included, could chew up the Warblers and spit them out. No matter how much Kurt inexplicably finds himself revolving around Blaine, he can't help but think he's the satellite to a lesser planet. Blaine is a conformist of the worst sort – the content sort.

Kurt can't do this anymore.

When he auditions for a Regionals solo, he doesn't expect to get a solo. He knows he won't, actually, because he'll be singing with New Directions at Regionals. He's made that decision.

He snaps his fingers calmly before opening his mouth to sing, without accompaniment. "You're not alone" is the most disconsolate statement he's ever heard, because in this room, he is certainly special, and he is made to stand up and out, DAMN the hammers that would nail him down.

"You're a canary, I'm a coal mine, 'cause sorrow is just all the rage. Take one for the team. You all know what I mean," he croons soulfully. "And I'm so sorry, but not really," he laughs. "Tell the boys where to find my body. New York eyes, Chicago thighs, pushed up the window to kiss you off. The truth," he sings, sliding easily into the high notes, "hurts worse than anything I could bring myself to do to you. The truth hurts worse than anything I could bring myself to do to you. Do you remember the way I held your hand? Under the lamp post and ran home..." He glances at Blaine, who looks confused but awed. "This way, so many times, I could close my eyes..." Kurt trails off before he explodes into song again. "The truth hurts worse than anything I could bring myself to do to you. The truth hurts worse than anything I could bring myself to do to you..." He repeats these lines, ascending the scales, putting every ounce of emotion he has into the performance.

There's silence. Utter silence before -

"Did I try hard enough that time?" Softly, but with a sharp edge, before he pivots on his heel and walks out to stunned silence.

Rachel will be proud when he tells her.

The room is already cleaned out when Blaine goes to check on Kurt. Pavarotti's cage remains, though – open and empty, save for a note inside.

"Domesticated animals don't stand much of a chance in the wild, but given the chance, nearly all of them would fly to freedom anyway. They may be scared. They may not know what awaits them. But they know something better lies beyond their fear. That is the meaning of courage.

Not many animals can let themselves out of their cages. That requires one smart animal, and I'm not going to brag, but – okay, I'm going to brag. I'm brilliant (that's a lame joke, which I seem to be very good at making).

So I've left you the way out. You're the one who has to have the courage to take it, though. I won't fault you if you don't, canary boy. If you want to stay content and safe in your cage, I won't blame you. If I was a different man, I might be content to stay in a cage too.

But I'm me. Kurt Hummel, the fabulous little monster that could eat canaries for dinner. And as Cedes would say, I gotta do me. And you gotta do you.

Who are you, Blaine?"

Blaine leafs through the sheaf of papers.

Transfer papers.

To McKinley.

He slides them into a drawer of his desk. He doesn't leave them out; he doesn't throw them away. He shuts them away (like every other conflict in his life) until he is brave enough to face them.

Blaine isn't sure that day will ever come.