I don't own any references, though the references are scarce in this one, so I just don't own the characters you recognize from Glee.
Please review. And I'm sorry in advanced for all the cliff-hangers that may happen (okay... will happen).
10 – Anniversary
It all started when Blaine noticed the empty seat where Kurt should have been in their English class. Rachel didn't seem fazed by it in the least, which was equally disconcerting. Quinn looked at him and raised his eyebrows at him before turning to a blushing Karofsky and Puck, who looked like they were finally together.
"Makes sense," Quinn had said. "Puck was his first kiss."
"Glad he's over Kurt and me," Blaine replied absentmindedly, his head really going over what was wrong with Kurt.
Blaine was like that for the rest of the day. It was Halloween, he realized, with an almost sick feeling in his gut, which meant two things: One: The Rift was busier than ever (Blaine had to be restrained when he saw that spirits were floating around all over the place. Rachel reminded him that they were spirits going to visit loved ones, as Halloween was once called All Soul's Eve. "They'll go back tomorrow," she had promised him), and Two: Kurt's mom had died this day.
"Where's Holly?" Blaine asked at lunch. "Does she visit her husband and son?"
Rachel blinked at him, crooking her head to the side as she linked fingers with Quinn under the table (Blaine could tell they were doing it). "No… I don't believe she does. But she has a good reason, I'm sure…" Rachel replied. "She, too, wants Kurt to move on from her death… but Kurt takes it… as a sign that she doesn't actually care…"
"It that why he's not here?" Blaine asked, sitting up straighter.
"Yes," Rachel replied, nodding. Then she saw something pass over Blaine's thoughts and decided to stop whatever it was before he did it, "You can't. Kurt likes to be alone on Halloween, whether that means skipping school or not…"
"Heroic fucking BSO-fucking-D," Blaine said, causing both Rachel and Quinn to blink up at him.
"Don't Blaine, please," Quinn whined, worry in her lovely features.
Blaine glared at them, "I'm going to do it."
"Don't," Rachel reiterated, "He'd be so mad if you did."
Blaine didn't know what came over him to say what he said, but he found himself saying it anyway, "I'm the mother of his son. I have a right to take care of him even when said son isn't around!"
And that shut both girls up, as they were still up on the whole Kurt-and-Blaine-have-a-Destiny-together-and-Destiny-should-happen-because-Destiny-said-so plan. Plus everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them and it was freaking the girls out to be seen with an alleged madman.
It was easy getting past Kurt's dad. Burt Hummel had remembered the day as well, and he had remembered that Blaine worked with Kurt. So with a stack of papers in his hand, Blaine entered the house, telling Burt it was Kurt's homework. As it was Halloween, though, none of the teachers had handed out any assignments, so Blaine just put the papers in a recycling bin in the kitchen before sneaking down the steps to Kurt's room.
Kurt wasn't visible, but Blaine noticed the lump under the white comforter on the bed. Especially when the lump moved so Kurt could get some fresh air. That's when Kurt noticed he wasn't alone. "Bologna is in the top drawer, Dad. We went over this."
"Guess again, Kurt," Blaine replied, a slight smile on his face.
Kurt jumped up into a sitting position and immediately covered his face when he noticed who was standing at the bottom of the steps, "Blaine! I haven't moisturized! You need to call before you come over!" then "And I thought Rachel would have told you I don't like to be bothered on Halloween!"
"I convinced her that it was okay if I came over," Blaine said, and kicked his shoes off.
Kurt watched almost in horror as Blaine climbed on to the bed towards him, peeling back the comforter to slip under it with Kurt. Kurt blinked, taking his hands away from his face carefully. "You should go."
"I should stay," Blaine replied, wrapping his arms around an extra pillow and burrowing his face into it. Kurt made a face like a five-year-old would and poked in the stomach, causing the other to giggle girlishly. But he didn't move, he only picked up his head and stuck his tongue out.
"Why are you here, Blaine?" Kurt said, lowering his voice to almost a cat's hiss.
"I would have brought my pussy, Kurt," Blaine said, grinning at his callback, "But I didn't have time to go home and get her, and I thought the girls were following me."
Kurt raised an eyebrow, his face saying: 'Where is this going?'
Blaine moved so that he was propped up next to Kurt, his arms snaking around the slim boy so that he was pressed against him, "So my hair will have to do," he said, burrowing deeper under the covers so that his hair was level with Kurt's hands.
Kurt shoved him away a little, pulling the blanket over his head childishly, "You're a freak, Blaine Anderson."
Blaine won the battle and managed to pull Kurt in again, his body erupting from under the covers like a shark in those overly dramatic shark movies. He waited until Kurt stopped struggling and thrashing before he replied, "I would stop digging yourself a hole. You're the original freak."
Kurt seemed tired as he lay there, his hands pressed to Blaine's abs, and his head in the crook of the other boy's neck. He breathed for a moment, his silver-blue eyes fluttering closed, giving Blaine butterfly kisses on his exposed chest (why he was wearing a button-down shirt with most of his chest exposed on a 34 degree day was beyond him—actually, he was reminded he was in a hurry to get out of the locker rooms after practice… perhaps he forgot a few buttons in his mad dash attempt to get the hell out of there). Finally, Kurt sighed, and a tremor went through his whole body. Blaine felt the tension leave his body, and Blaine put a hand up to the back of Kurt's head, kissing his hair fondly.
"I also have the right to be here because of our son, if you haven't forgotten."
Kurt looked up at Blaine, face at full flush. He raised an eyebrow, but his face still looked shy and worried, "You feel it too?"
"Whatever Jeremy is doing, he's given us a weird bond. I can feel your feelings and sometimes we share thoughts. I know it used to be one-sided only for you—the telepathic thing—but now…"
"It's the family phenomenon. Since we're a dragon's chosen parents, he is manipulating the bond between us so we can protect each other so he will still have that romantic bond and its nutrients."
Blaine and Kurt both blushed at the implications, but neither denied them, either.
"You don't have to be alone today," Blaine suddenly said. "I couldn't handle the depression you were feeling today, and since… since we have… whatever Jeremy is doing to us… I want to be there for you. Like you have been for me…"
Kurt's blush deepened, and he grudgingly placed his head back on Blaine's chest, moving so that he was more comfortably pressed to the other boy. He closed his eyes, and Blaine involuntarily shuddered at the feeling of Kurt's eyelashes closing against his skin. They lay there, quiet, for a long time, and Blaine finally noticed that the other had fallen asleep next to him. He made a half smile, and felt his eyes closing against the darkness in the room.
Blaine wasn't sure what woke him up, but he knew he needn't have worried about the feeling that had woken him up: that something was coming. Kurt was just waking as well, and they noticed their positions: Blaine was still lying on his back, and when he turned his head to the side—back to where it had been minutes before, his face ended up buried in Kurt's hair. Kurt was curled along his side with his head tucked up under Blaine's chin, resting on his shoulder.
Kurt moved away with deliberate speed, but then he missed the warmth and moved so that they were only side-by-side under the covers. Blaine chuckled, but his head moved back to the sensation that someone was coming. And he or she was indeed coming: emerging from the wall was a familiar shape.
"Jeremy?" Blaine asked, moving to get up.
"Don't move," said a deep voice. It didn't sound telepathic like when Jeremy was a baby, but then again, Jeremy was bigger and probably much older now—even a month and a half since Blaine had found him that fateful day.
Jeremy came into view, the late daylight shining off his brilliant blue scales. He still had a yellow under belly, but now he had grown what looked like soft, rubbery spikes down his back. His body looked like it came up to Kurt's waist, but his neck was long, like a brontosaurus's, and it made Jeremy look like he could put his head on top of Blaine's head without much difficulty. He had also grown giant wings, that, even as he crawled carefully onto the bed with Blaine and Kurt, he could still stretch the wings beyond Kurt's Queen-sized bed. He swooped his parents up into a careful hug with his powerful arms, and Blaine found himself nuzzling his son. Jeremy let him, chuckling deeply as he did so.
"I missed you guys so much…" he said.
"You're… in adolescence now?" Kurt asked, linking his hand through Jeremy's human-like claws and scratching the leathery skin under Jeremy's wing.
Jeremy began to purr while he talked, "I'm about your age in human years," he replied.
"That's weird to think about," Blaine suddenly said, earning him a chuckle from both Kurt and Jeremy. He smiled at his son, "Seems like only yesterday you talking to me telepathically and barely able to walk…"
Jeremy visibly rolled his brilliant emerald eyes, "Such a mom thing to say…"
"I know, right?" Blaine asked. "How have you been, bud?"
"Lonely without you guys. I mean, my adopted parents are fine: two lovely lady dragons, but they're not you two…"
"We're still teenagers," Kurt said softly, and Jeremy nodded his serpentine head.
"I know," he replied, sadly, licking his father's cheek. His tongue should have been reptilian like the rest of him, but it was rather like being licked by a rather large cat (Jeremy was purring as well, which should have given something away). "But I see you've found yourselves nicely."
"No thanks to you," Blaine murmured.
Jeremy chuckled, "I don't need your loving bond thanks to my adopted parents. Master Theta, and the Ladies Rachel and Quinn have been hinting that you two haven't taken the hint. So I decided to sort of intensify the bond between you," Jeremy replied, sitting back on his haunches—reminding Blaine and Kurt a lot of little Luna Lovegood, Blaine'scat. "But I have a reason to be here, speaking of Lady Rachel and Lady Quinn. Can you call them over so I can tell you it?"
When the girls came over, Blaine had moved to the desk chair, sitting in it sideways as Jeremy situated himself in the corner of the room. Quinn and Rachel sat at the end of Kurt's bed, and after a slight tickling session with Kurt's feet (by Rachel), the four looked over to Jeremy, who cleared his throat.
"First, I must say a few things about my differences from the other dragons," Jeremy said. "Because I chose two humans as my parents, that makes me mentally and emotionally a human as well. Because most dragons do not hatch and run off to the human realm, the rest have the mindset of the first astral dragon, our beloved Dragon King. Because of those ties to him, all dragons are pretty much connected to each other and other dragonly dragons."
"But you aren't, because you chose two humans?" Rachel asked, crooking her head the side.
"Precisely," Jeremy replied, smiling. "It makes me happy that my parents are friends with smart Ladies like yourselves," he said, bowing slightly at the girls. "I am here, though, because the other dragons are getting restless…" he continued, staring out the window for a moment. "Because the King is restless, so are his subjects. I have been noticing that my adopted parents have been talking of opening the Rift for good—" here Rachel and Kurt visibly gasped, Rachel putting her hands to her mouth "—which as Papa and the Lady Rachel know, at least, means that every ghost that wants to get out and stay out in the human realm can."
Quinn looked to Blaine, who shrugged and looked to Kurt, then Rachel.
"Mostly mischievous spirits want to get out into this world and wreak havoc," Rachel explained. "Good ghosts would stay in the Rift, but if the Rift was opened all the time, the bad ghosts would get out, and the world would… descend into chaos…"
Blaine's eyebrows shot up, "And that's a bad thing," he stated, turning back to his son. "How do the dragons fit in to all this, Jeremy?"
"The dragons are the only ones who can open the Rift from the inside. Mr. Chiffon's mistake when he opened the Rift here at that school was both the mistake of the dragon he had contacted and the fact that Mr. Chiffon was messing with him at all," Jeremy said. "The dragons would be able to breath fire and open the Rift permanently, not only where it is all ready permanently opened—in the ceiling of your high school—but all over the world… staining the horizon in fire…"
Kurt and Rachel turned to each other, eyes wide, "The burning horizon…" they said together.
Blaine and Quinn had heard of Alexander's warning, and when Rachel and Kurt had uttered the words again, they turned to each other, then to Jeremy, "So… because of the dragons getting restless to open the Rift, chaos may descend on mankind… But I thought dragons were supposed to be calm, good creatures…"
Kurt sighed, "Something must be swaying your king," he said, looking at his son. "Some mischievous spirits who want nothing but to wreak havoc on both the Spirit world and our world…"
Jeremy nodded, "I've been trying to figure out what, but I haven't had any luck."
Rachel made to get up, "Then we'll help."
Jeremy flicked his great tail and gently pushed her down with the tip. "No, my Lady," he said politely. Then his great green eyes scanned the room, landing on Blaine, "I came here only to warn you. The skies may burn, but I know you will come for us to stop it. I want to see if I can figure out the cause by myself before I asked for your help…" he told them.
Blaine glanced at Kurt, "He gets that from you, you know—that hero complex?"
Kurt threw a pillow at him, to which Blaine caught and cuddled close to him, sticking his tongue out childishly. Jeremy chuckled, "Anyway. I only wanted to warn you of the danger. Watch out for it, and be sure to come find me when if it does actually happen. I'm not sure I'll be able to escape Master Theta's old eyes again after this…"
Both Blaine and Kurt got up, rushing to Jeremy before he left, to hug him. The girls looked on fondly, grinning as Jeremy pulled away after a few minutes and linked the two boys' hands together.
"That's better," he replied, and dashed out the wall and back toward William McKinley High School, and the Rift it housed.
Kurt and Blaine looked at their entwined hands, then looked to each other before blushing crimson, but not exactly taking their hands back…
"We can't just sit here and wait," Blaine said, now sitting in between Rachel and Quinn. Kurt was pacing, looking somewhat ridiculous in his pajama bottoms and tank-top.
"But Jeremy said nothing was happening… and we can't get through the Rift if all the dragons are thinking the same things," Quinn replied.
Kurt shook his head and turned to his friends. "There literally is nothing we can do right now but wait. We need proof, or something relevant to get into the Rift. It's the pact Mom made with the dragons when Alexander tore the damn thing open…"
Rachel nodded, but her head was slowly sinking into her hands. Blaine shook his head again, "We don't even know when its going to happen…" he said. "So we have no way of actually preparing…"
"Yes we do," Kurt replied. "We are prepared to go into the Spirit World at any time. We are prepared to get into the school at any time…"
"But you're the only one with the keys," Quinn pointed out.
Blaine suddenly stood up, "Let's make a schedule…"
The other three stared at him. "A schedule for what?" Kurt asked, back to being somewhat peeved at him. He was under a bit of stress, so Blaine somewhat understood the change of heart.
"We'll start spending the night together, at each other's house," Blaine replied. "Then we can all be together so when this Burning Horizon thing comes along, we can all be with each other just in case it happens on a weekend."
Quinn smiled, "Mercedes has an extra room in her house we can use," she said.
"And from experience, we can use the Oscar Room in our basement," Rachel added.
Blaine nodded, and said, "We'll have an order, and we'll spend the night at a new house every day so our parents don't worry. We'll just say we're working on a group English project, and it's due in a couple of weeks," he said.
Everyone nodded at the idea, and Kurt went to his desk to write out the schedule for the group for the rest of the month, just in case it took a month for the whole peace behind the Rift to blow up…
In Your Future: (The Burning Horizon) The time comes when the group must mobilize and help Jeremy. But will Jeremy have any clues for what's behind the danger? And will the group be able to stop whoever is behind it? Also, one of the group members might just meet their dead (but future) mother-in-law...