I know I only just put up the last chapter earlier but I wrote this pretty fast so you can have it now. Sorry for the short cliffhanger
"Kurt!" Blaine yelled from outside the cabin, racing closer with everyone on his heels. The group of people, from the desperate Blaine to Emma pushing Artie's wheelchair, looked very scared.
Blaine dashed down the hallway and peered into Kurt's cabin as he went. There was no one there, so Blaine flew to the bathroom with Puck on his heels. He could hear the shower going, but didn't allow himself to be relieved yet. It could be a trick. Blaine hammered on the door, hoping for Kurt's voice to call out. No reply.
"Kurt!" Blaine yelled, knocking again. There was still no answer but the water pattering its way down to the shower floor. Blaine tried the door, but it was locked.
"He's not in there." Puck breathed, looking around. "Shit this is bad."
Mr Schue pushed to the front and pounded his own fist against the door. "Kurt can you hear us?"
"He's not in there!" Blaine yelled, his voice cracking, panicked and desperate.
Mr Schue listened for one more heartbeat and then turned to face the kids.
"We have to find him!" Blaine cried, "We have to!"
"Everyone split up!" Mr Schue called, at the same time as Puck yelled. "Well let's go!"
They both nodded and pushed forward with the Club. People began splitting off, checking each room as they went, heading down the other corridor, and heading outside. They were desperate to find Kurt before something happened.
Blaine's movements were erratic, his breathing heavy. Sam joined him and tried to calm him as they searched, promising they'd find Kurt. But Kurt wasn't in the Cabin anywhere. Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn and Tina were all crying as well as they stumbled outside and began to search the woods. The cabin stood abandoned behind them, only the sounds of the shower water, left turned on as a decoy, came from within the building. Everyone wandered the forest, yelling Kurt's name.
After ten more minutes someone stumbled back into the clearing outside the cabin. It was Rachel, trying to calm Finn through her own tears. Finn stalked ahead of her, yelling in distress about what his new father would do to him if he lost his brother. About how much he'd hate himself if he lost his brother. Finn was heading across the open space to search the tree on the other side.
"He can't have just disappeared! It's freaking impossible! And who would hurt Kurt anyway? He was so happy today! Finally! And you saw how torn up he was over Joe! Death always reminds him of his Mom. I'm his brother and I have to protect him! And it'll get dark in a couple of hours! That means we have to find Kurt before then or-"
"shhh," Rachel hissed suddenly, reaching a hand out to stop Finn.
"I will not be quiet Rachel! I-"
"Can you hear that?" She asked, hope flooding her eyes. Finn quickly realised Rachel was onto something and listened too. Very faintly he could hear something.
"… I'm defying gravity. And you won't bring me down..." The voice was clearer by the second, and very familiar. "…I'm through accepting limits, cause someone says they're so..."
"KURT!" Rachel screeched, running to the Cabin as fast as she could. Finn quickly overtook her and flung the cabin door open. As Rachel's shouts echoed into the trees many others came sprinting into sight. Tina had the presence of mind to ring the dinner bell as soon as she got there, long and loud. Soon everyone who'd missed the yell was running back towards the Cabin as fast as they could.
Finn flew towards the voice and found he could hear it quite clearly. It was coming through the bathroom door. Finn hammered on the door.
"Kurt!" He bellowed "Are you in there?"
The song stopped and there was a splutter, followed by a "hold on…" as the water stopped.
"Did someone say something?" Kurt asked from the bathroom.
"Kurt!" Blaine's strangled yell sounded from the end of the corridor as he arrived, pushing past other Glee Club members to get to Finn and the door.
"Blaine?" Kurt asked, he sounded puzzled. "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"
Wet bare feet slapped across the tiles of the bathroom and the door opened. There was Kurt. Alive and healthy and a little baffled to find the whole glee club staring at him as he stood with nothing but a towel wrapped around his skinny waist.
"Kurt," Blaine choked, flinging his arms around him and pushing the door open to yank Kurt into the hallway. Finn joined the hug and so did Rachel, until everyone was sobbing and hugging in a massive group.
Kurt still looked very confused, one hand clutching the towel and the other pushing his hair aside to try and look more presentable.
"What on earth happened?" Kurt asked as the hug loosened and people began to let him go.
"I thought you were dead." Blaine gasped, pressing his face closer rather than dropping Kurt like everyone else. "That's the second time today and it was so much worse than this morning. Don't you dare do that to me again."
"My goodness Blaine I was just having a shower!" Kurt still seemed astonished.
His friends were grinning now, finding the absurdity of the sight humorous now that they weren't worried for Kurt's life. Kurt was flattered to notice that even Santana's eyes were teary. She never cried. Speaking of people who never cried, Puck was staring at Blaine with his hands clasped like a cooing woman over a tiny baby.
"I still have no idea what all this drama's about." Kurt reminded them.
Quickly Quinn slipped into the room by the bathroom and grabbed one of Kurt's shirts. After a moment of looking at it as if considering something Kurt sighed and took it. "I guess this one will do. Thank you, Quinn. Mind grabbing my third pair of pyjama bottoms- the blue ones on top of my biggest suitcase. They'll match this and I can slip them on quickly."
Blaine let go reluctantly as Kurt went in to put his clothes on. They waited in the Lounge as until Kurt came out, blushing brightly and trying to fix his hair. He sat beside Blaine, who was almost overly clingy, and listened as Rachel told him what had happen.
"So then Blaine caught up and he knocked as well! And there was no answer!" Rachel explained, waving her arms around. "The shower was running and everything, but we were so loud there's no way you didn't hear."
Kurt rolled his eyes and nudged Blaine with his elbow, making him wince.
"You idiot Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed "You know why I brought my longest headphones! That way I balance the iPod outside the shower and I can still listen to it!"
"I forgot." He said, agonised. Blaine looked like he wanted to hit something. "How did I forget?"
"But we were knocking really loudly!" Finn added earnestly. "Surely music wouldn't block that out?"
"Not if I was washing my hair. Have you ever washed your hair with headphones in?"
"I did once!" Brittany said. "It was super-creepy. Like echoing in your head and it makes the water even louder than usual."
"Exactly, Britt," Kurt said. Blaine caught his eye and he sighed. "God Blaine, stop beating yourself up. I just didn't hear you. Nothing happened. It was just the music and the water and the loud scrubbing of the shampoo. I'm alive."
"The last thing I did was be mean to you." Blaine's muffled voice came from Kurt's shoulder and Kurt's expression softened.
"It's okay Blaine, I wasn't really mad at you." Kurt told him, stroking his hair. "And we're all fine."
"So cute I could vomit." Santana said, lip curled as she watched them.
"They are, aren't they?" Despite his tone of voice, Puck looked very pleased watching them.
The relieved smiles on everyone's faces made Kurt chuckle. "You didn't really think I was dead, right? I mean you were all by the lake, who was killing me?"
Other giggles rose to join his as everyone realised it. They had all been by the lake. It was stupid to think Kurt could have been killed.
"Wait," Artie snapped, reaching for Santana. He was the only one who hadn't relaxed yet, but at his tone of voice they all tensed again. "The fairytale?"
Santana reached into her pocket and passed the piece of paper to him. Artie read over it again. "Why'd they give us this if no one was going to die?"
"Maybe they meant to kill Kurt? But they couldn't?" Tine asked, but beside her Mike leapt to his feet.
"Guys we're idiots!" He yelled. "We split up to search! There were people alone in the forest!"
"Oh my god," Artie breathed, dropping the paper again. He eyes scanned the room. "Sugar's missing."
"What?" Quinn screeched as everyone looked around as well.
"I just noticed." Artie said, shaking slightly. "Where did she…?"
"Dammit!" Mr Schue cried, lurching to his feet. "We have to find her. And this time, no splitting up. We'll go out in two groups and if we don't find Sugar before dark you are to come straight back here. Understand?"
They nodded, already standing and making for the door. Quickly Will ran into another room and grabbed some sheets, explaining that they were needed to cover the body. Mr Schue parted them as they left, sending Emma with one group and following the other himself.
…
"What's that?" Finn finally said as they walked together, bunched tightly and holding hands with each other when they could.
"It's red," Kurt said, his voice tight and high, all the teasing of the afternoon gone as the reality of the situation sunk in again.
"Like… Red Riding Hood." Brittany stated, staring at the red fabric they could see ahead of them.
Mr Schue put out a hand and warned them to stay back before stepping forwards himself and taking in the sight before him. It was Sugar, but she was barely recognisable. She was covered in blood, her clothing and skin torn as if by the claws of a monster, but on closer inspection it was more like a knife. The red towel she'd had draped over her shoulders when they'd left the lake, was torn as well, and her blood covered everything. Mr Schue paused, gagging slightly.
"Finn," he called over his shoulder, "Mike. Bring the sheets."
Finn and Mike walked forwards with the bundle of sheets in their arms. Each group had a few that they'd taken from the linen cupboard as soon as Mr Schue realised they needed something to cover up the body. He was glad, in a way, that their group had found it. He wasn't sure how Emma would have dealt with the body.
Mike and Finn both gagged at the sight as well, quickly giving Mr Schue the sheets and helping him cover the body. They both had tears in their eyes.
"They really are serious." Mike said as they tucked the sheets around Sugar and tried to avoid the blood. "About the fairytale thing. They're trying to make it all look realistic."
Mr Schue put a hand on his shoulder for a moment and then the three of them leaned forwards to carry Sugar between them.
"Quickly now," Will said "We want to head back and ring the bell before it gets dark. We need the others inside too"
Bloodstains were soaking through the sheet at they carried the body and Kurt let out a loud sob as they passed him, setting off Rachel, Mercedes and Quinn who were also in the group. The three girls clung to each other as Blaine stepped awkwardly forward to catch Sugar as Finn stumbled. Though his attention was obviously on Kurt, he wanted to help.
They arrived back at the cabin and Rachel swung the dinner bell with all her might, watching until the other group came out of the forest, and across the path to meet them. As the last (Puck with Artie's wheelchair) came out of the trees and across the lawn, Rachel sighed with relief and went back to Finn's side.
They'd put Sugar in the same room as Joe, on the opposite bed, and left quickly. Then it was a matter of waiting until everyone was there. Quinn was sobbing harder than ever, and her, Mercedes and Kurt clung to each other with shared sorrow.
Blaine was pacing up and down and Will, Mike, Finn and Rachel merely sat numbly, though Rachel was crying too.
People began filing in, stopping in horror as they saw the expressions on everyone's faces. They'd held onto some faint hope that Sugar would be safe. But it was obvious now they'd merely been naïve.
When Artie entered the room Blaine went to squeeze his hand, wanting to be there for the friend he knew had felt something for Sugar at some point. Artie looked up at him.
"So," he asked "What happened?"
Finn told them what they'd found, leaving out the sense of despair and just how grotesque Sugar had looked like that. Brittany's sobbing was deafening even without those extra details. Sugar had been a good friend to Brittany, and the other girls who'd been in her separate glee club until the Clubs had re-joined. Santana tightened her arms protectively around her girlfriend, whispering meaningless comfort to her through her own tears.
"Why did we have to split up?" Artie asked. "None of this would have happened if we had just stuck to the plan and stuck together!"
The was a shuddering intake of breath from the corner where Quinn sat and they looked over to see Kurt on the arm on her chair, gasping to breath before he spoke through his tears.
"I'm so s-s-s-sorry." Kurt stammered "This is all my fault. I should never have run off to take a sh-shower or listened to my music. If you h-h-hadn't gone looking for me Sugar would be fine. I'm so s-"
"Kurt!" Quinn and Blaine said at the same time, Quinn squeezing his leg as Blaine fell to his knees in front of him.
"This is not your fault." Blaine said firmly, taking both of Kurt's hand in his own before kissing the palms.
"He's right." Quinn added, putting an arm around Kurt and drawing his shuddering form closer to her own, looking motherly. "The killer just took advantage of the situation."
Emma stood slowly and checked the clock. She looked over the tormented children and decided to try and restore some order.
"Look I really think we should all get you to bed." She said. "It's 8 o'clock and I know it'll take some of you a while to get ready. An early night and lots of sleep should help you feel a bit calmer. And maybe in the morning we can talk about this and see if we can work out another way out of here."
They looked stunned, but a little comforted by her motherly attitude. None of them remembered that they hadn't had dinner yet.
Blaine was the first to move, taking Kurt away to finish combing his hair in the hope that the normality of this job would calm him a little. He lightly massaged his shoulders as Kurt went out the door ahead of him. Puck moved over to take their place and whisper some comfort to Quinn, who seemed exhausted.
The rest of the girls walked off down their corridor, and Mercedes paused last so that Quinn could catch up with her. At Quinn's departure, Puck went to wheel Artie through and guys started worrying in low voices about what they'd all do next as they followed.
Finally just Will and Emma were left behind.
"Goodnight Will." Emma said. "I guess I'll go and… sleep."
He didn't miss the hesitation in her voice. "If you don't want to sleep alone…"
"Could I?" She asked, knowing what he was offering.
"Of course,"
"You don't think the kids will think we're…" Emma blushed as she let the sentence trail off.
"No. Not tonight." Will told her. So Emma moved his things to Will's room, much too scared to sleep alone tonight. Not after what happened to Sugar.
Any theories about the killer's identity now? Keep reviewing and telling me what pairings you like!