I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a few months now, finally going to get it started. I would love to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks for reading!
As much as I would love to be able to write from everyone's pov, it's not possible with this many characters. So, most of the story will be told from Kurt's pov. If it changes at any point, I'll make a note of it.
In this world, Blaine, Wes, David, Nick, Jeff, Sebastian and Hunter all attend McKinley. Everyone except Hunter is in the New Directions.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the characters.
A big thank you to my amazing Beta and friend sabbypandawan, who graciously enough agreed to edit my story and has been letting me throw ideas at her.
A New Day
Looking back on it, everything seemed normal. They were friends, lovers, family. Well, not all of them, but the ones that mattered were. How did it come to this? The world was ending, and it had all started on an ordinary day in October.
At least it did for Kurt Hummel. It's too bad he couldn't say that it had ended as a normal day. But every good story starts at the beginning, so let's start there.
McKinley High School was like any other school in Ohio. It was filled to the brink with teachers that didn't care, students running wild, and the social hierarchy ruling them all. It was chaos; organized chaos, but chaos nonetheless.
Kurt walked in, keeping his head held high, determined to ignore the masses. He smiled at Quinn, Santana, and Brittany, who were talking with the Cheerios before walking to his locker to apply a liberal amount of hairspray. He was just finishing entering the combination when he was slammed into it from behind.
"Sorry, Ladyboy" Karofsky called as he walked away, laughing with Azimio and a few other jocks. Kurt leaned his head back against the cool metal. 'Two more years', he thought, 'Two more years and I am out of this hellhole'.
"Hey, you ok?" Kurt couldn't help but smile when he heard the familiar sound of his best friend's voice.
"I'm fine, Blaine. It's nothing new." Kurt accepted the hand up from Blaine, coming face to face with him, blushing softly when he realized how close they were to each other. Not that Blaine would ever notice. Kurt had been in love with him since the day Blaine transferred to McKinley. But despite his best efforts, he and Blaine remained just friends.
"Come on, I'll walk you to class". He reached into Kurt's locker, grabbing his first period's book, History, before closing it and guiding Kurt down the hall. Kurt glanced over at Blaine, noting the tightening of his mouth.
"What's wrong?" He blinked, looking over at Kurt before smiling and shaking his head.
"Nothing, don't worry about it. Look, I'll see you in Glee" Blaine quickly walked away from him. Kurt sighed before walking into his classroom. He might as well forget about it for now, he would get it out of his best friend later, or so Kurt figured.
_LINE BREAK_
Fourth period rolled around finally and Kurt headed towards Glee. He walked into the room and paused, noting the dynamic. The members of Glee club changed partners and friends so often, it was hard to keep up. Today, Blaine, Wes, David, Sebastian, Nick, Jeff and Sam were grouped together, Finn was chatting with Quinn while Rachel glared at the current couple, Mercedes was having a loud conversation with Artie, Santana and Brittany, Puck was still trying to get Lauren to notice him and Tina and Mike were making out in the back row.
Blaine looked up just then, smiling as he saw Kurt. He moved his bag off the chair next to him while waving Kurt over. The taller boy sat down next to him, smiling as Blaine began talking about the latest Vogue with him.
"Alright everyone, since Mr. Schue still isn't here, I'm taking over the club. Now, I understand that everyone feels like a star, and they should, but you are all stars behind me. With that being said, I want to hear what you would like to hear me sing." Rachel was standing in front of the piano, a big smile on her face as she spoke. The room was dead silent after her statement.
"That's it. I'm gonna go all Lima Heights Adjacent on her. Let me at her!" Santana screamed, jumping up to attack Rachel. Jeff and Sam, who had been sitting behind her, were barely able to hold onto her.
"What makes you think you have the right to sing every song in here?" Nick demanded as they got Santana to calm down.
"She's little Miss Perfect, what do you expect?" Quinn demanded. Kurt saw Finn's shoulders tense, wondering if Finn would be dumb enough to jump in the middle of this fight.
"Rachel, while I love your voice and think you are an excellent singer, others in here would like to sing and to have a chance at center stage as well", Blaine interjected before anyone else could say anything, "Yes, there are very few people who can sing like you, but there are other talents that we shouldn't ignore. You can't sound like Santana. Brittany can dance mountains around you. Mercedes can hit notes you can't even dream of. Everyone has a talent here. That's why it's Glee Club, not the Rachel Berry club." Kurt couldn't help but smile at Blaine. Even when lecturing someone, he was still so polite and nice about it.
"Yes, while I agree others in this room have talent, I. Am. A. Star." Whatever else Rachel had been planning to say was cut off as Mr. Schue entered the room.
Blaine leaned over to whisper in Kurt's ear, "Gym should be interesting this afternoon."
Kurt nodded, agreeing with him. They had no idea how right they were.
_LINE BREAK_
To this day, Kurt doesn't know how they all ended up in the same gym class. Every member of the New Directions, as well as David Karofsky, Azimio Adams and Hunter Clarington made up the class. Sue Sylvester marched into the room, megaphone in hand.
"Alright you bunch of pansies, we were supposed to be outside playing my favorite game, dodge ball, since the gym is under construction, but I have been informed that being outside is, and I quote, dangerous and unpredictable in a lightning storm, which I personally say makes for the perfect game. After all, what's life without a little danger and unpredictability? So instead, we are swimming. Get your fannies into your swimming gear and get to the pool ASAP. Let's go, this isn't the Special Olympics!", Sue yelled at them, making them run for the locker room.
"Isn't it just as dangerous to be swimming during a lightning storm as it is to be outside?" Blaine asked as he pulled off his shirt. Kurt swallowed quickly, turning his head away.
"Yeah, but aren't the chances like a billion to one that you would get struck by lightning? Plus, it's inside", Kurt answered, pulling on his own swim suit.
"Inside with lots of windows. The whole ceiling is glass", Sam broke in.
"Stop being such girls. It's fine. I've swum outside numerous times in lightning storms and guess what? I'm still here", Puck contributed as he headed for the door. The other guys looked at each other and shrugged before heading out.
They walked into the pool area, shivering at the temperature.
"Oh, grow a pair! I had them open the ceiling up. It's time for you all to grow up and learn what it's like to work in hard conditions! You think this is hard? Try swimming in the ocean surrounded by sharks in the middle of a thunderstorm! Now, that's hard. Laps, go!", Sue screamed at them.
Kurt shared a frightened look with Tina before diving in. He heard Sue screaming at Artie that not being able to move his legs wasn't an excuse before he heard a loud splash. Kurt stopped, looking over at the edge where he could see Artie's empty wheelchair. He swam over as fast as he could, reaching Artie at the same time as Puck. They pulled Artie's head above the water, trying to support his weight the best they could.
"What is wrong with you?! You could have killed him!", Kurt yelled at Sue. She shrugged, looking at her stopwatch.
"Naw, his legs are probably filled with air by now, he probably would have floated", she responded. Kurt stared at her in shock for a second before opening his mouth to respond.
At that moment light filled the room as a lightning struck next to the building. Screams filled the room at the shock and proximity of the strike.
"That's it, I'm out of here", Quinn said, swimming for the edge.
"Nope, sorry Q, no one is leaving this pool. Would you babies relax! It's just a storm!", Sue snapped, throwing her arms in the air.
"Why don't you join us if it's so safe?", Santana demanded, "I'm out too." With that, she started swimming for the edge, followed by the rest of the group. Sue lifted her megaphone.
Whatever the angry coach was about to say was drowned out by another lightning strike just outside the wall. Everyone screamed and jumped causing pandemonium as they began to freak out. Kurt pulled Artie towards the edge, starting to lift him out of the water. He grabbed tight to the metal bar with one hand and hoisted Artie with the other.
A bright flash hit the room, and Kurt felt pain like he had never known before. Everything went black.
_LINE BREAK_
Kurt groaned. His head hurt like a bitch. He reached up to touch it, but something stopped his arm half way. He slowly blinked his eyes open, noticing the room he was in. Hospital. Of course. It was just his luck. Kurt hated hospitals ever since his mom had died. He looked down to see what was stopping his arm. The left one was bandaged and laying across his chest in a sling. The pale boy frowned, looking at it.
"How did that happen?", he murmured, leaning his head back. For that matter, why was he in the hospital in the first place?
"You're awake!", Blaine's excited voice broke through his thoughts. Kurt lifted his head, intending to ask his questions and stopped and stared at the other boy. Then he started laughing.
Kurt had seen Blaine's hair under normal circumstances, but right now it looked like he had stuck his finger in a power socket. It was so frizzy and crazy that it made him look like a mad scientist. Kurt couldn't stop laughing.
Blaine stared in shock at Kurt's hysterics, wondering what the problem was. "Why are you laughing? I was worried sick about you." He approached the bed cautiously.
"Have you seen your hair? It looks like you got struck by lightning", Kurt giggled, laying his head back down. Blaine swallowed hard.
"Um… Yeah… It should. Because we all got struck by lightning. Remember? We were in the pool and Coach Sylvester had them open the ceiling and lightning struck inside. That's why you're here." Blaine grabbed Kurt's good hand, watching his reaction carefully. Kurt stopped laughing, staring at his friend.
"Wait, what? Are you serious? I remember being in the pool, but that's it…" Kurt looked away, trying to remember. He remembered joking about being struck by lightning before they went into the pool. He mentally rolled his eyes. Irony at its best, of course.
"You were helping Artie get out of the water. I guess you must have been touching the metal. At least that's what the EMTs said. When the lightning struck, it didn't hit the water completely, it hit the edge and the metal. Because you were holding onto it, you got severely electrocuted. The rest of us got zapped pretty hard, but you had it the worst. You dislocated your shoulder when it happened and it fried your arm rather badly, that's why you're wrapped and in that sling", Blaine explained everything as fast as he could.
He was leaving out the worst parts. After the lightning had hit they had all been in shock, they were hurting and didn't really understand what had happened. It wasn't until Puck yelled that they realized anyone was hurt. Blaine had almost freaked out when he saw Kurt floating there. He had swum over as fast as he could, dragging Kurt out of the water.
Kurt hadn't had a pulse. Blaine had performed CPR on him until the EMTs arrived. They had gotten his pulse back before rushing him to the emergency room.
Blaine was never going to tell Kurt that if he could help it. He could see how scared Kurt was just at the thought of what happened. If he knew the whole truth, he would freak. Blaine couldn't do that to him.
Kurt stared at Blaine in shock, his mind going a million directions. He couldn't believe everything that had happened.
"Is everyone else ok?" He finally asked, unable to think of anything else. Blaine smiled, nodding at him.
"Everyone else is fine. We were worried about you." Burt walked in then, rushing over to his son. Blaine smiled at Kurt, mouthing that he would be back later before going out to let the others know that Kurt was awake and going to be just fine.
_LINE BREAK_
It was three days before they would let Kurt go home. Three long days of tests, laying around, and being bored out of his mind. Kurt prayed to the God he didn't believe in that he would never be stuck in the hospital that long ever again.
It wasn't completely terrible, though. His friends came by a couple of times a day to check on him. Brittany made him a 'Sorry you were struck by lightning' card. Puck brought his guitar and played for him for a while one day. Quinn brought cookies. Even Santana came by with a couple of fashion magazines for him.
The best was Blaine though. Blaine was there every day after school. He helped him with homework, they watched trashy TV and read the magazines Santana brought. Kurt's favorite and least favorite part of the night came when they said goodbye. He hated when Blaine left, but Blaine always kissed his forehead before going. It made his inner tween squeal.
Going home was more difficult than Kurt thought it would be. His dad was waiting on him hand and foot, making sure that he was comfortable. Finn kept sticking his head in, asking if he could produce electricity or anything cool now. He seemed so disappointed when Kurt kept telling him no.
He had been home for two days when he couldn't stand the coddling any longer. He snapped at Carole when she asked if he needed another blanket, threw his dad out of the room, and slammed the door in Finns face.
"I. Am. Fine. Stop suffocating me!", he screamed, his nerves on end from the trauma of the last week. He roared out his frustration as loud as he could, sinking to the floor as he heard his family walk away from the door.
Everything in his room fell off the shelves at his scream. Kurt jumped, looking at the mess. He reached for a picture next to him. The picture flew off the floor and into his hands. Kurt stared at it in shock. He could only think of one thing.
Oh God. Finn was right. The lightning did do something to him.
Was it just him?
_LINE BREAK_
It had started out as a perfectly normal day. But after that day, Kurt's life, and the world, would never be the same again. If only that day would have ended normally.
I would love to hear what you guys think! It's been a long time since I've written anything. Please review! Thanks!