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The silence that followed the announcement of his name was almost suffocating, for a short, peaceful moment Kurt thought that time stood still, that some greater power had noticed the injustice happening here and had put an end to it. There were no sobs to be heard this time, Carole probably being far too relieved that it was not her own son's name being called. The boy wondered about his dad. Could this give him another heart attack? He did not dare turn around, knowing it would break both of them to look into each other's eyes right now.

"Please join us on stage, Porcelain." Sue Sylvester called.

Kurt had to move past Finn who was resembling a fish out of water at the moment, mouth opening and closing soundlessly, too shocked to move or speak. Kurt did not blame him, he had never expected him to volunteer. He avoided eye contact with any of the other glee kids, ignoring the soft touch of some fingertips ghosting over his arm. Was it Mercedes? Or maybe Brittany? He did not want to see their eyes, afraid of what he might see. Would it be shock or relief? He slowly made his way to the stage.

Sue congratulated him, but he barely made out her words. Was he supposed to thank her? Take pride in being a chosen one? The first thing he truly registered was Santana's hand in his, squeezing tightly. He looked at her, the only person who knew how he felt, for a second he felt a deep connection - and then he realised that they would be expected to kill each other soon.

They were forced to pose for some photographers, but were both far too stunned to answer any of the few reporter's questions. Before anyone had grasped what had happened they were ushered backstage. They were separated and taken to different classrooms, Kurt found himself in the old choir room.

"You will be able to say goodbye to your family in a few minutes." someone told him and then he was alone.

He looked around the room that was so familiar and yet looked so different. All of the glee club's trophies had been removed, as well as the piano, a couple of treadmills were standing in its place. In place of their little trophy cabinet now hung a huge portrait of governor Sylvester. Kurt caught his reflection in the glass. Was this really what he looked like right now? His face had an almost haunted expression and he was even paler than usual. He ran his fingers over his clothes, wishing he had chosen to wear something different that morning, but how was he supposed to know that he was going to be a celebrity by nightfall. One of the twelve most famous teenagers in the entire state, maybe even the whole nation.

Kurt heard a muffled sob coming from the door and turned around. Carole was standing there, her hands covering her mouth, tears staining her face, her whole figure was trembling hard and the boy regretted thinking she would have been relieved instantly.

"Oh, baby!" she cried and flung herself into his arms.

Kurt hugged her close, whishing they had not given him this moment, he did not feel strong enough to comfort his family, after all he was the one being sent to death.

"Dude…" Finn started from behind his mother but did not know what to say.

"It's okay." Kurt said, but he felt like he was going to be violently sick at any second. "Finn, please…" he started looking at his stepbrother.

"I promise. I'll take care of him." Finn said without waiting for his brother to finish the sentence.

"Thank you." Kurt mouthed.

"This is not fair. They can't do this. They have no right." Carole kept chanting in her stepson's arms.

"Your dad is just talking to some of the officials." Finn said, stroking his neck awkwardly.

Kurt could picture that talk and could only hope that his dad was not getting himself arrested. He worried about the man giving himself another heart attack again. He could not allow himself to go there right now, he could not lose it, he had to stay strong for them, just for a few more minutes. He willed himself to go numb and just stroke Carol's arms mechanically. It worked until he heard someone clear his voice in the door. He looked up and saw his father standing there.

"Kiddo…" Burt Hummel started.

"Dad." before the man could react his son was flying across the room and threw himself into his arms. "I'm so sorry, daddy! I'm so sorry!" the boy sobbed.

"This is not your fault, son. This is not your fault."

"We will give you some privacy." Carole said, dragging Finn out of the room.

Kurt sobbed when he realised this was probably the last time he ever saw either of them. Burt Hummel lifted his son into his arms and carried him over to the leftover choir room chairs. He sat down and rocked his child like he had not done since the day his first wife had passed away almost ten years ago.

Kurt did not know how long it took him to calm down, but eventually he was all out of tears and just held onto his father, breathing deeply, trying to inhale as much of the man's scent as possible. Both men knew there was nothing left to say. Nothing would change what was happening or offer any sort of comfort to either of them. A man appeared in the doorway, signalling that it was time for them to part.

"Just one second." Burt said before focussing back on his son. "You got to promise me something, kiddo. Can you do that?"

Kurt still did not trust himself to speak so he only nodded.

"Promise me you will do anything you can to make it out of there alive. Promise me you will try your hardest to return to me."

The man gave his son a stern look, drowning himself in the beautiful eyes that looked so much like the boy's mother's.

"I promise." Kurt croaked, his voice breaking.

"And now with conviction " Burt said.

Kurt took a deep breath, trying to steel himself for just one last minute. He stood up and looked at the man that had raised and protected him for all of his life.

"I promise." he said firmly.

"Thanks kiddo." Burt replied before his son was taken away from him.

Kurt was led outside and ordered to climb into a large limousine, where he was reunited with Santana. The latina had obviously been crying and was hastily wiping at her face.

"Like you're gonna be able to tell me you were all brave in there, Hummel." she hissed when she caught the boy looking at her.

Kurt almost had to laugh at the familiarity and normality the sound provided. They shared a look and then both started giggling hysterically.

"Kids, I don't think you should be laughing right now. " Emma said when she entered the car.

"And what should we be doing?" both teens asked in unison.

The woman had no reply to that so she chose to stare at her shoes instead.

"I'm really sorry for throwing up on you that one time." Kurt said, he had no idea where it came from, but he felt like he needed to say it.

"It's okay." the ginger woman whispered.

A drunken Will Schuester staggered to the limousine and joined them, almost instantly passing out. The doors were slammed shut and the car turned into motion.

"Where are they taking us?" Santana asked, all the sassiness gone from her voice.

"To a hotel." Emma supplied in her now almost trademark hushed tone. "You will meet the other tributes and receive a week of training. There will probably be more press photographs and interviews, too."

Kurt wanted to ask her how she had gotten involved in all this, what they had used to blackmail her into it, he was sure she was not here voluntarily, but then he noticed the look on her face as she was watching the unconscious Will. He chose not to say anything, instead he reached for Santana's hand and was glad when the girl allowed him to hold it.

The drive took quite a long time, so they were sure they were not in Lima anymore when the car finally stopped in front of a very expensive looking hotel. They got out and stared at the large building, it must have belonged to some kind of resort, as there were no other businesses to be seen, only a golf course and some tennis and basketball courts. There were helicopters hovering over the complex and Kurt wondered if they were there to keep them in or other people out. Maybe it was the press, or even some of the other tributes arriving.

Inside they were ushered into a luxurious looking lounge. A waiter approached them offering champagne and orange juice. Will and Emma both chose the champagne but the two teens were only allowed the orange juice. They both snorted, apparently they were old enough to kill or be killed, but still not old enough to try alcohol.

Kurt looked around, not all of the other tributes had arrived yet, but he already recognized a few. He gave an awkward little nod to Sunshine Corazon who was standing together with the other Vocal Adrenaline and Aural Intensity tributes, the boy briefly wondered when the two groups had become friends. The two tributes from Haverbrook were standing in a corner signing rapidly to each other, Kurt felt like he was intruding after watching them for a minute. He looked around again, catching the eye of a boy in what seemed to be a dishevelled private school uniform. The boy had messy, curly, black hair and beautiful hazel eyes, under different circumstances Kurt would have thought of him as cute, but he did not think that would be appropriate now. Still he could not help but stare at the stranger, blushing when the boy gave him a weak smile. He was the only tribute who was standing on his own and Kurt felt sorry for him. He decided that he must be the tribute from the all boys choir.

"Hello and welcome, my dear tributes!" Sue Sylvester's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I'm sorry for not being here when you arrived, but my helicopter got held up."

So she had flown in while Kurt had inhaled Will Schuester's alcoholic breath in the car for hours.

"If you want to you can mingle down here for a little longer, but some of you might be relieved to hear that your rooms are ready for you now."

Kurt decided to go up to his room, he did not feel like socialising with people that were going to be trying to murder him very soon, even if some of them were really cute. His room was big and looked really expensive. Under different circumstances Kurt would have taken the time to admire the decor. He imagined this was the kind of room Anna Wintour would stay in if Ohio had its own fashion week. He had dreamed of himself being the reason for such an event some day. He sighed and decided to take a long hot shower. When he returned to the bedroom he was glad to discover that someone hat left a pair of silk pyjamas on the bed for him, he had already forgotten that he had no luggage at all.

He dropped down on the bed and tried to will himself to go to sleep, but his mind was racing, every time he closed his eyes he saw his father's face, Carole's tears, Finn…

Kurt groaned and sat up, for the first time noticing the television on the opposite wall. Were they really kind enough to offer him this kind of distraction? The boy turned it on and soon realised that all of the channels were showing the exact same thing, a report on the different reapings at all the schools. He was just about to turn the television off when a voice announced that the next school was Dalton Academy. It was explained that since this was an all boys school only one tribute from there glee club would be chosen, the other one would come from the Jane Adams Academy. Kurt briefly wondered what it must feel like to go through this alone. Even the little comfort that Santana had been able to offer him had managed to keep him sane so far. He scanned the assembled students for the boy he had seen downstairs, but he could not find him until his name was called.

"Blaine Anderson." the voice said.

The boy stepped forward and Kurt almost did not recognize him. His uniform was clean and showed no wrinkles, his hair was styled perfectly, no sign of the messy curls under the thick layer of gel. Kurt gasped when the boy's eyes caught the camera, it almost felt like they had made eye contact again. He quickly turned off the television and tried to go to sleep. It was a restless night, his father's voice and Carole's tears haunting him.

"Promise me, kiddo." he heard over and over.

And again and again he found himself looking into a pair of hazel eyes.