DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor am I associated with it or RIB. Actually, I just don't own anything. There we go.

Always a Warbler

By: xSlythStratasfaction

SPOILER ALERT for episode 4x18. TRIGGER WARNING for mentions of a school shooting. Slight one-sided Seblaine too. Also, the Warblers I used in this fic are the ones who showed up during random Warbler performances this year. I've always believed Wes, David, and Thad to be older than everybody else, but they de-aged David and Thad like they did Blaine, so they're in this fic too. Just thought I'd mention that.

"Today we're going to finish our discussion on the theme of good versus evil in Beowulf. Please take out your books and, oh- also pass up yesterday's homework assignment."

Sebastian rolled his eyes and dug through his English folder, pulling out the sheet of questions he needed, and passed them forward to Nick. He went back to dig his copy of Beowulf out of his pile of books when he noticed a grim faced Mr. Bock, the senior History teacher, come walking in the door, hesitantly looking at the classroom full of students before he turned to Mrs. Pepperdine.

"Might I have a word with you, Martha?"

The woman paused in her collecting of homework and looked at her class, "Give me a second, class. Go over the reading from last night and we'll discuss it when I come back." She set the pile of papers on her desk and followed Mr. Bock out of the classroom. The second she was gone, the students turned to each other, asking questions of why their history teacher looked so flustered and what the whole deal was about. It was only several seconds after she left that Mrs. Pepperdine came back into the room, white as a ghost, her hands pressed against her trembling lips.

"Mrs. Pepperdine, are you alright?" Trent asked. The teacher took a quick look at him and then swallowed heavily.

"You may put your books away. The headmaster will be making an announcement shortly."

"An announcement?" One of the other guys asked and the class burst into chatter, Mrs. Pepperdine doing her best to quiet them. In the midst of everyone's talking, the intercom crackled and everyone quieted. The headmaster coughed and cleared his throat before his deep voice filled the speakers.

"Attention students and faculty: Dalton Academy will be dismissing early today. As always, the safety of our school is our utmost importance and due to the events being reported out of Lima, we will be dismissing early and all students are to go home or to their dormitories. That is all. The bell should be ringing shortly. Be safe."

The intercom clicked and immediately the class exploded.

"What's happening?"

"What did he mean by events reported in Lima?"

"Mrs. Pepperdine, what's going on?"

The elderly teacher took a seat at her desk and placed a hand over her heart. She let her gaze flick around the room before she spoke, her voice wavering and thick with emotion. "I don't want to upset you, as I know some of you have friends there... b-but there are news reports that there's been a shooting at William McKinley High School."

Trent gasped, his hands flying to his mouth. Nick and Jeff shared an incredulous look and Sebastian felt his stomach churn.

There was a shooting at McKinley. Blaine's at McKinley.

And in an instant, the lives of the Warblers had changed forever.

::

After the bell rang, the students all got up and filed out the room, the members of the Warblers hanging back as everybody else left. Trent was crying already, a hand cupped over his mouth to stifle his sobs, and Jeff had his phone out, frantically typing out a text to the one person everybody else was worried about.

Blaine.

"Is he answering?" Nick asked, hesitantly hovering over his best friend. Jeff's head shook, blonde hair falling in front of his teary eyes as he stared down at the screen.

"Nothing yet," he breathed, looking up at the others standing around him. "I hope he's okay."

Sebastian chewed on his lip and went to pull out his own phone, hoping that Blaine would at least answer him back. He punched out a few messages and sent them, ignoring the fact that his hands were shaking terribly. He too stayed preoccupied with his phone, awaiting for any sign that Blaine was okay, and when the rest of the Warblers came running down the hall to meet them, he could barely meet their eyes.

"Is it true?" David asked. Thad and a few of the other guys stalled behind him and listened as Jeff explained what they had been told. After retelling what Mrs. Pepperdine said, Thad yanked his phone from his pocket and also began texting. David stared at him for a moment and frowned, "Has he not answered any of you?"

Jeff and Nick shook their heads and Sebastian didn't even bother to acknowledge the question, his mind still elsewhere. He peered down at his silent phone and closed his eyes, feeling the ever present burn of irriation behind his eyelids. Around him, the other Warblers were arguing with each other and all it was doing was making him mad. Who cares who's texted Blaine and who hasn't? He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the wall, "He probably has his phone off."

"Why?"

Sebastian opened his eyes to glare at Cameron, wondering how in the hell none of the other guys thought of this. "Would you have your phone on if you were trying to hide in a school that someone was shooting up?" Silence fell around him. "No? That's what I thought. It's frivolous for us to try to text him. He's probably hiding-"

"How can you say that like you don't care?" Jeff growled. Nick placed a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down and Sebastian rolled his eyes at the outburst.

"I'm thinking logically here, unlike the rest of you."

"But you just tried to text him too!"

Ignoring Jeff's outburst, Sebastian turned on his heel and walked off towards the Warbler rehearsal hall. Behind him, the rest of the flock followed and waited until he unlocked the room before they all stepped in.

"Are we even supposed to be in here?" Trent asked hesitantly. The rest of the guys blew off his question and took their usual seats around the room. "I thought the Warblers were banned from meeting here."

"There's an emergency going on with one of our own. I'm pretty sure the faculty won't mind," David said, taking a seat at the council table. Sebastian sat beside him and took another glance at his phone.

Still nothing.

The Warblers sat in silence, a few of them occupied with their phones, hoping that Blaine might've answered them back. It wasn't until several minutes after they entered the room that Trent gasped and dropped his phone on the floor.

"Trent? What the hell?"

The boy pointed at his phone and Nick picked it up, paling considerably as he stared at whatever was on the screen. "Some of the New Directions were on Twitter earlier."

Sebastian immediately pulled up his Twitter app, his heart racing as he scrolled through his timeline. His gaze fell onto a familiar screenname and he frowned. Blaine hadn't posted anything since early that morning. "Who are you talking about?"

Nick ran his finger down the phone, still reading, and shook his head. "That one girl, Tina, posted something. She got separated from New Directions – they're all still inside the school."

"She got out?"

"According to her responses to some of the alumni members, yeah. She's the only one, I think. She said two of the members were absent today, but the rest are inside the building, probably in the choir room."

"So Blaine's still in the school?"

"Yeah," Nick whispered. The room went back to total silence until Trent started to cry again. Beside him, Jeff also began sniffling and it started a chain of emotions around the room. Sebastian dropped his head into his hands and tried to block out the sounds of his friends crying, his own eyes stinging as he imagined the fear that those kids – Blaine - must be feeling.

They may be your enemies, but they're your age too. And Blaine's there... and he's- he's Blaine.

"We should pray," Nick whispered. The rest of the guys looked up and while some looked blank at the thought, a few agreed and followed Nick to a corner of the room to pray together. Sebastian remained in his seat, listening to Nick's calm voice mutter out a few prayers, David joining him as they hoped for Blaine's safety, as well as the safety of his classmates. "Amen," they finished and then they went back to their seats, David wiping at his eyes as he sat.

"You okay?" Thad asked quietly, patting David's forearm.

"I was just thinking about when Blaine first came here and how skiddish he was. I mean, I- Wes was the first person who talked to him and that's how we met and... all that crap that happened to him at his old school and now this?" David pressed his palms into his eyes and breathed in shakily. "I know we made amends with him last year over what happened... with the slushie," Sebastian cringed, "-and I know he was disappointed in us with what happened with Sectionals," another cringe, "-but I can't help but be upset that he's there and not here, you know?"

"A lot of this stuff wouldn't have happened if he stayed; he was safe here," Thad agreed and David cried a little more.

Next to them, Sebastian scowled and slunk down in his seat. Fucking Hummel, he thought, thinking of the guy who basically enticed Blaine over to McKinley and then left him there to fend for himself. Lord knows that maybe the other guys were wrong, that things with Blaine still would've happened no matter if he was at Dalton or McKinley, but in that moment, Sebastian couldn't help but agree, Blaine wouldn't be stuck in a school while a shooter was on the loose if he was at Dalton.

But who's to say that something like that wouldn't happen here? His mind added. He ignored it.

The rest of the room went about their business, just sitting there in the silence and waiting for something to happen. Jeff pulled a radio out from the closet and plugged it in, tuning it to the local news where a reporter outside of McKinley High was giving a play by play of what was happening.

"Hundreds of students from William McKinley High School are standing behind barriers as the S.W.A.T. Team scours the school for the supposed gunman. Shots were heard earlier this afternoon and the building was evacuated somewhat successfully. According to the principal of McKinley High, several classrooms were unable to exit the building and are still inside. There are no reports of injuries or fatalities at this time, but we will keep you updated-"

Jeff turned the radio down and took a seat on the table, kicking his legs back and forth as he stared at the floor. "Do you think they'll think we had something to do with this?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Sebastian growled, staring at the blonde boy in shock. Seriously, who asks that?

"I mean, we were disqualified because of the New Directions... what- what if they think, since the main people locked inside the building are the glee club kids, that we're behind this? What if it's Hunter?"

"Hunter Clarington's on house arrest right now. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do something like this," one of the younger Warblers added. Sebastian made a mental note to talk to that kid later, considering the boy's utmost disgust at Jeff's question – he must be a Hunter fan still.

"Hunter also punched a news reporter in the face and threatened to dismantle the Warblers if we didn't do as he said," David added, sniffling. "I don't think he'd do it, but he's still a psycho."

Jeff nodded and Nick crossed his arms over his chest, curling up into himself. "I'm not comfortable talking about this. Blaine's probably scared out of his mind and we're coming up with conspiracy theories. I'm scared for him right now and you guys should be too."

"We are," Jeff whispered, but Nick dropped his head to his knees and the room fell silent once more. David went back to rubbing at his face, Thad stared at his feet, and Sebastian continued looking at his phone, wondering if it was ever going to ring. A handful of minutes went by and then the radio grew louder with the sounds of cheering.

"Jeff, turn it up!"

The radio crackled to life again and the voice of the announcer came on over a bunch of noise, "The Lima police department has issued an all clear here at McKinley. They are leading students out of the front door now and it seems that no one is injured, just very, very shaken. It looks like the students and faculty of McKinley High are safe today and that Ohio has averted a serious tragedy-"

"Averted a tragedy," Cameron mumbled, "McKinley just dealt with something awful and she's playing it off like it's nothing."

"I'm glad they're-" Sebastian started, instantly pausing when his phone dinged in his hand. The rest of the Warblers' heads shot to look at him and he swallowed heavily, glancing down at his phone. Around the room the sounds of little beeps and vibrations filled the air and various guys pawed at their phones, smiling when they saw where the notifications were coming from.

"Blaine's okay!" David yelled, immediately bursting into tears. The other guys followed in suit, hugging each other and some crying. Sebastian fell back, leaning against his chair as his racing heart slowed. He read the message over and over again, thankful that his friend was alright.

From Blaine: I'm okay. We're all okay.

It was all he could ask for.

::

A few days after the shooting, Sebastian and the other Warblers went to visit Blaine in Lima. McKinley had reopened the very next day (which David thought was stupid considering how distraught the news of the shooting made the whole state, so lord knows how upset McKinley's own students were), and Blaine had been busy, but now it was the weekend and Blaine, after taking a few days to come to terms with what happened, was going to meet them for lunch at Breadstix.

Sebastian had just ordered his drink when Blaine came around the corner, hands tucked into his pockets and head hung low. The guys remained silent until their friend gave them a quiet greeting, to which they responded with enthusiastic hellos and hugs.

"I'm glad you came to meet us today, killer."

Blaine looked up at Sebastian and smiled slightly, settling down in his seat in the booth between Jeff and Nick. "I'm glad that I got the chance."

"So was it true that it was that crazy cheerleading coach who did it?" Jeff questioned, his eyes wide in curiousity. Blaine blanched for just a second before he responded.

"It's a long story, but I don't think Coach will be working at McKinley anymore."

"So you guys are down a cheerleading coach now? After all this time? She punched that one lady in the face at Regionals, remember? And she still kept her job then. You'd think they'd have fired her after that-"

Blaine interrupted without a beat, "Coach Sylvester may have her issues and she may have blackmailed me to get me back on the Cheerios-" Sebastian felt his brain short-circuit at the thought of Blaine in a cheerleading uniform, "-but she didn't mean for what happened to happen." He then added softly, "To be honest, I don't think that's the whole story anyway."

The Warblers stared at him and stayed quiet even after the waitress came with their drinks and took their orders. When they finished, Blaine morosely stirred his straw around in his ice water, seemingly waiting for his friends to start talking. Sebastian took the bait.

"Are you okay?"

Blaine looked up at him and blinked, shocked at Sebastian's question. "Umm, yeah, I'm fine, I guess. I was scared to death obviously, but I'm okay now."

"You sure?"

"Definitely."

"Well, if you say so," Sebastian teased, sipping on his soda with a flirty smirk. Blaine rolled his eyes and went about answering some questions from the other Warblers, the overall group talking and enjoying their time together. By the end of their meal, David fought with Blaine over paying for his lunch and Jeff and Thad also bickered over who was taking care of Blaine's food. In the meantime, Sebastian stole the receipt and added Blaine's food to his own bill, smiling slyly at the waitress when she came to take their payments.

"You didn't have to do that. None of you did," Blaine whined as they all walked to their cars. He leaned up against his station wagon and crossed his arms over his chest, "I do appreciate it though, so thank you."

Jeff grinned, "We're just glad we got to see you... we were hoping that you didn't hate us after- after what happened with Hunter."

Blaine looked around the group for a second, his face passive, but his eyes oh-so expressive. "I've never hated you guys, not even after..." He trailed off, but not without catching a quick glance at Sebastian. The guys knew exactly what he was talking about: the rock-salt slushie. "I never hated you. You've hurt my feelings, yeah, but never have I ever hated you. I was disappointed mostly. I can't believe you guys went to steroids just to win. You guys would've destroyed us without the drugs, you know?"

"I don't think so," Trent added. Sebastian raised a brow at him; Trent wasn't even a part of the roid-raged Warblers. "You guys did an awesome job singing in Korean. If that one girl hadn't have fainted on you, you probably would've won."

Blaine shook his head, "Who knows. I'm just sad that the Warblers got disbanded."

"You guys were disbanded too for a little while, I heard." David said.

"Yeah, that's how I ended up on the Cheerios the first time, but then Sam mentioned that something was up with you guys and then we got glee back. I'm glad though. McKinley without New Directions is boring."

"Same with Dalton. I miss singing," Jeff pouted. Nick placed a hand on his shoulder and added, "We should sing an impromptu number right here, right now."

His idea was met with a bunch of 'nahs' as the guys laughed. Blaine wiped at his eyes, his laughter the strongest out of the group and when he finally calmed down enough to look up, he was met with the smiling gazes of all his friends.

"Man, I haven't laughed like that in days. Thanks guys."

"Thanks Nick," Nick teased and Blaine chuckled again.

"We're glad you're alright," Thad added, staring at Blaine. The other guys nodded in agreement. "We were scared to death when we heard the news."

"I'm honored you guys thought of me-"

Sebastian rolled his eyes, "Please. You're part of us, killer."

The guys huddled in together, throwing their arms around each other in a tight hug. Blaine was sandwiched in the middle, everyone else tucked in around him. Sebastian hung back a bit, watching as the shorter boy got squished in between Trent and Jeff, and when Blaine finally emerged from the huddle, he threw an arm around Blaine's shoulders and pulled him close. "Once a Warbler, always a Warbler, killer. Always."

Blaine smiled in return, taking one long look at his old friends. "Of course. Always."

A/N: Not really keen on the ending, but oh well. This drabble has been bouncing around my head for days. Honestly there are a million different things going on in my brain and a lot of them are Warbler related (especially S2 Warblers) but I still have so many WIPs that need updated (a la Break Me and Not Like This and so on and so forth) and I know my readers probably want my head impaled on a stick, so I should really get to those, but my muse hates me and doesn't want to work with me whatsoever. Anyway, enough of that. I hope you liked this. I appreciate all reviews (meaning I really, really love them haha!)