Hi, so here I am again with the proper Chapter One of this here fic! The plan overall is to post one chapter per week, during the weekend of my timezone :) So that gives me a bit of leeway if I'm away or something. But yes, expect regular updates (sorry for all of you who expect regular updates on other things and I'm just... Yeah...) But this weekend, seeing as it was only the prologue, I thought I'd be nice and also give you chapter one. Get the story rolling a bit more... I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

'Just as seeing Heaven's light gave him an awareness of God's presence in all things in the mortal plane, so it has made him aware of God's absence in all things Hell.'
-Ted Chiang, 'Hell Is the Absence of God'

Four weeks earlier…

The hallway was crowded with figures, but each walked evenly behind the other, maintaining his or her place in line until the last moment, when they slipped from it and towards their locker, placing their books inside. They left the line for only moments, perhaps rolling their shoulders to release some of the tension against their uniform of navy blue polo shirts, before joining the line again, grim expressions never leaving their faces.

The assembly had been called. Every day, the Leaders made it seem as if it was a big deal, another assembly. Like they didn't call one every day. They tried to make it a novelty, but the sheer overuse and obvious control gained by these assemblies for their own purposes, made every student in the building not only dread it, but fear it.

Because the assembly meant there was something new to learn, another rule to add to the long list already engrained into everyone's mind. Or it meant somebody had done something against the rules, and they were going to be punished. And the rules changed so often, that no one was ever certain it wouldn't be them until the assembly was over and they were heading back to their lockers again in their perfect lines, and off to their final class of the day.

This assembly proved to be one of the punishment type.

Kurt sat neatly in his seat, watching out of the corner of his eye as the short, dark haired girl whose name was Rachel, sat down beside him. He didn't know her very well, only that she was in his year, and must have been born before or after him, because she was always next to him during lines, or assembly, or during classes.

But they hadn't talked before.

'Hey.' That was definitely unexpected, and Kurt almost turned his head in surprise but caught himself at the last moment. Always look ahead during assemblies.

'What are you doing?' he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

'What do you mean?' she returned.

'Why are you talking? It's assembly!'

She smiled brightly, a look that was wanted by many of the Leaders, but very rarely achieved. You had to be very strong-willed to remain smiling in the face of the Regime. Sometimes, at home, Kurt would allow himself a meek grin, and when he met Blaine for coffee, he would occaisonally break a true smile. But not at school. Never at school.

'I heard a rumour.' Those were the next words out of Rachel's mouth, and the joy with which she whispered them made Kurt frown darkly.

'What kind of rumour?'

She glanced at him at the corner of her eye, him only just catching the gesture. 'A rumour about you.'

Kurt blanched. What had she heard? Was she a spy for the Leaders? Or worse, for the Officers? Was she trying to make him confess to a crime that he knew he had committed, but really wished he didn't have to?

Or was she like him?

'It's okay,' she whispered again, watching as the last students piled into the corridor, the small freshmen with shiny faces and not enough life experience to be sitting anywhere but in the front rows, where the Leaders could watch over them. 'My dads are like you.'

Dads?

He didn't know what to think, what to do. How did a girl his age have two dads? How did they get away with it? And more than anything, how was she a Legal?

'How did they manage it?' he whispered softly. 'With you?'

'Silence!' a loud voice rang out and Kurt pressed his lips together tightly, stiffening. The assembly was starting, and even the slightest whisper would be easily heard in the caverning silence. There was no longer the din of many footsteps. The only noise was the slow clack of heeled boots against the wooden stage, as Royal, the head Leader, took his place in front of the microphone. It was hardly needed.

Sometimes, Kurt wondered how Royal had gotten his name. It wasn't a common name, and it stood out, especially against the other Leaders. But it worked to his advantage. Whenever anyone spoke of Royal, no one could pretend they didn't know who they meant.

'Students,' he said in his booming voice, the microphone crackling slightly. 'There has been a disobedience.'

In another school, a few hours away, Blaine was at his locker, pushing his books in carefully and withdrawing a small, spiral bound notebook. He pushed it carefully into his shoulder bag, between his Rule book and his French notebook, before closing his locker and turning to Jeff, who stood at the locker beside him.

'Did you hear?' he whispered softly, running his eyes along the corridor for Leaders. Students milled around, chatting among themselves, but there were no Leaders in sight.

'No, Blaine. I didn't. What is it?'

'I have one more F to go and I'm being downgraded!' He said it with a grin in his words, holding up a hand for Jeff to high five it. The blonde just looked at him, staring.

'Are you insane?'

'No?'

Jeff grabbed his shoulder turning him around so they were both facing the boy's locker before hissing venomously, 'Have you seen what the kids that come out of that school are like? 3rd Level Education centres are bad, man. They have no control over their own lives, they live like automatons. Here, at least, you can talk without fear of getting detention, or something worse.'

Blaine shot him a look. 'Then why are you whispering?'

Jeff groaned, but only grabbed a final book from his locker and closed it, walking with Blaine down the corridor and towards their next class. 'All I'm saying is,' he said, voice now back at a normal level. 'It's not worth it.'

'Love isn't worth it?' Blaine's tone was incredulous.

Jeff shook his head. 'Not when that's the outcome.'

The room broke into hubbub. In the seat beside Kurt, Rachel stiffened.

Under the cover of hushed whispers, Kurt nudged her side. 'Do you know something?'

She blanched, shaking her head. 'I hope not.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, I haven't done anything lately, but they might have found out. But how I could be blamed for that, I don't know. I mean, it wasn't me, it was my parents, but still-'

'Rachel, shut up,' he hissed and she fell silent, curling into herself and watching dead ahead as Royal scanned the crowd.

'One of you,' he said in his booming voice, 'has broken the Rules. She is to be punished, in front of you all, as an example as to what happens when you do not comply with our standards.'

And from behind him, two Officers shoved forward a small girl, only a freshman. Rachel heaved a sigh of relief.

'I- I didn't do anything!' the girl cried, her body bowing in half as tears streamed down her face. 'It wasn't my fault! It wasn't me!'

Royal raised a hand, holding it above her head and brought it down with a loud slap. The girl's cry made no words. It was only a sob of desperation, asking for someone, anyone to help her.

But the crowded hall stayed silent, only watching with bated breath as the Leader's hand fell again and again. Their eyes were focused on the ring that wrapped his finger, that wrapped the middle finger of every Leader, marking them as part of the Regime. It collided with the girl's skull, drawing blood.

And then it stopped. She was grasped by the wrists and pulled backwards, off the stage, as she swayed. Her eyes were glazed over and her mouth formed soundless words. Help me. Save me. Protect me.

Kurt's gut wrenched for her, but he could do nothing. To stand up was to condemn yourself to the same fate.

'That is all,' came Royal's calm voice, and the school rose as one, stepping in organised lines down the tiered seating and towards the lockers again.

From behind Kurt, Rachel whispered softly, just loud enough that he could hear. 'We won't see her again.'

Blaine sat at his desk, his knees jumping. They danced against the wood of the table, thudding lightly as the teacher paced between the students, handing back marks.

'I'm disappointed in a lot of you on this research paper,' he said as he gave Jeff back his mark. 'There were a lot of Fs. And trust me, these marks have already been submitted, so don't think you can change them. Just remember, keep your marks up, otherwise you run the risk of being downgraded.'

He placed Blaine's paper in front of him, leaning down to murmur, 'I think you could have done better than this, Blaine.'

At the top of the page was a large, red F.

Blaine ducked his head, trying to act humble and ashamed, but inside he was soaring. He had an F! He'd be downgraded! He was heading to William McKinley 3rd Level! He was heading to Kurt.

'Yes, sir,' he murmured. 'Sorry, sir.'

The teacher passed on, moving behind him and Jeff turned his head, raising an eyebrow. At the top of his paper, was a gleaming green A. A passing mark. He wasn't heading anywhere any time soon.

But Blaine grinned at him, holding up three fingers.

He was on his way.

At McKinley 3rd Level, the lunch period was the most relaxed time of the day. Students were allowed to talk and discuss whatever they wanted. Within limits.

Kurt normally sat at a table with some of the girls in his year level, but a good few spots away from him in lines. Normally, at lunch, he avoided Rachel at all costs. But this lunch time, he was interested.

He was hoping that under the cover of noise provided by the cafeteria, he'd be able to question her about what she meant by "rumours". And why she had paled so much when Royal had called the girl out for disobedience.

He sat down at the table, shifting the seat slightly to put his knees against the edge of the table and his toes on the edge of the chair. Rachel settled herself beside him and they waited in silence, waiting for the third and final seat to be filled. They didn't want to be surprised if someone sat down during their conversation.

'Can I sit here?'

The girl's voice was meek and she looked between Kurt and Rachel as if hoping they would say yes. Quinn, Kurt thought her name was, and he could only remember because she'd had to take a lot of time off the year before having been sick with something contagious and unable to leave the house.

Her short blonde hair hung in a bob against her cheeks, curling only slightly at the bottom. She looked like she would be beautiful on the weekends, when the navy polo shirts could be removed, and natural figures shown. Kurt could almost imagine her in a bright skirt, perhaps a yellow or red, with a smile on her face.

'Sure,' he said, but even as he did so, Rachel shot him a look. It seemed to ask why, but with also a hint of she'll turn us in.

He shook his head almost imperceptibly. It will be fine.

'Quinn, right?' he said, motioning to the blonde. She nodded carefully, lifting the apple on her food tray to her lips.

'You were away last year? Sick?'

She nodded but there was a hesitancy in that nod, as if there was more to the story that just sick. Kurt picked up on it, raising an eyebrow in her direction.

'How horrible, not seeing anyone for six months. That's so horrible. But at least you're back at school now, right?'

She nodded again, her eyes slightly sad and downcast, and he shot her a smile. They could trust her. She wouldn't tell anything she heard at that table.

'When you said rumour earlier, Rachel,' Kurt said, turning to the girl beside him, 'what were you referring to?'

She shot Quinn a glance but continued, carefully choosing her words so that anything that was overheard would not place blame on either of them. 'I was talking about your friendship with one Blaine, who you see regularly at the coffee shop off Main St. I mean, it is pretty controversial, him being from a 2nd Level after all.'

Kurt smiled, nodding, hoping she would pick up the reply to the unspoken message she had sent. You're gay.

'Blaine's fun. He also has good taste in coffee. He's coming round for dinner as a matter of fact. He wanted to see a movie that we own.'

'Oh,' Quinn said, chiming up for the first time, 'that sounds fun! I haven't seen any good movies in a long time, what one is it?'

Kurt named the first thing that came to his mind. 'The Sound of Music. It's incredibly old, but it has good music, and I have it on good authority that it was a favourite of my mother's.'

This was true. Kurt had been named after the young boy who always seemed to be forgotten by Maria.

'Oh, that's sweet,' Quinn smiled. 'I love things with meaning like that. You don't seem to find much of it around nowadays.'

Kurt nodded, glancing at Rachel out of the corner of his eye, who was staring between them, almost dumbstruck.

'You were at the assembly?' Quinn asked, motioning to Rachel. 'The girl who got taken for disobedience?'

Rachel nodded, pressing her lips tight together. 'It was horrible,' she muttered.

'Oh, I agree,' the girl replied. 'I personally believe that if the Leaders are going to punish people, they shouldn't do it in full view of the whole school. That's just cruel.' She had leaned closer to them across the table and lowered her voice. 'Personally, I'm just glad it doesn't happen too often. Why does no one stand up to them?'

And in that moment, Kurt knew he had been right. Because Quinn was like them. Quinn didn't believe in the Regime. Something had happened during that six month time that had left Quinn faithless in the system.

'Do you worry sometimes,' he whispered carefully, glancing around them to check that no one was looking, 'that you could be next? It's so impossible to tell, and they change the Rules so often that I always worry I'll break one without knowing.'

Quinn nodded. 'All the time.'

And then she leaned back in her chair, biting into her apple again. She watched Kurt carefully, as if she was weighing him up, but he'd already got her measure. She was like them. Like Rachel, with her two dads - a surprising thing, if ever Kurt had heard one - and his own issues with Blaine. She had a secret too, something that she could get into a lot of trouble for.

And it had happened during those six months.