Chapter Ten: Re-Written My Story
"I can't believe it," Kurt said, grasping Blaine's hand once the Warblers had left the choir room. "I can't believe... Why would they do that? Why you? They clearly had more of a problem with me."
Blaine just stared absent-mindedly at the door they had just exited. "I stood up to them, pushed them to their limits. I embarrassed them in front of the rest of the club. They wanted to put me in my place. You only expressed your opinion in a respectable manner."
"You can't leave the glee club, Blaine." Kurt looked pleadingly into his sympathetic eyes. "You're the only reason why I come here week after week."
"Well, I can't come back."
"What are you going to do?"
For the first time since the others had left the room, Blaine eyed Kurt. "I'm just going to have to sing my soul out for Regionals."
It was the evening of Regionals, and Kurt was already at the theatre where they would be performing. The Warblers were up last. Anxiety took over and had him dancing backstage. Blaine wasn't normally late...
"I'm here; I'm ready!" Blaine said, rushing up to Kurt. It was hard to believe that beyond the curtain, there was such silence and anticipation, yet on their side, Kurt and Blaine were in a state of panic mixed with the desire to succeed. It was more of a necessity than a desire, but no one else understood it that way.
Blaine stripped himself of his coat to reveal a black dress shirt and a thick green tie. Kurt shrugged, allowing his thin white wrap to fall effortlessly like a blanket of feathers over his shoulders. The pair of them smiled weakly at the curtain as though imagining the audience could see and then glanced one last time at each other.
"Here we go," Blaine said.
With the last few seconds before performance time, Kurt grasped Blaine's hand in his own and squeezed. "For equality."
The red velvet curtain had begun to rise, revealing the crowd to the pair of them. Kurt immediately noticed Rachel and Mercedes beaming at him. He couldn't refuse them a smile in return. Blaine only let go of Kurt's hand once the music started and the chorus behind them had cued in to harmonize.
"I'm limited," Blaine sang softly to Kurt. "Look at me. I'm limited. And just look at you, you can do all I couldn't do. So now it's up to you... for both of us. Now it's up to you..."
Kurt was finding it hard not to get choked up at the irony of the words Blaine had chosen to sing all those weeks ago. His getting removed from the Warblers after this single performance wasn't sitting well with Blaine, but he was taking it very maturely. Kurt, on the other hand, had difficulty accepting the fact that the two things that defined him would be separated. "I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn," Kurt squeaked out the last note as he suppressed a sob. "And we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them," he nodded at Blaine and they both smiled, "and we help them in return. Now I don't know if I believe that's true. But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you..." Kurt took a couple steps forward as he snapped the invisible bond holding him next to Blaine, taking the spotlight for himself and kicking his voice into overdrive. "Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun, like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good..."
Kurt's eyebrows stitched together as he smiled and Blaine and fell back a few paces. He stretched his arm out to Blaine, who stepped toward the audience and took the next verses in a lower octave. "It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part: so much of me is made from what I learned from you." Blaine moved gracefully closer to Kurt, who walked a little slower to meet up in the middle of the stage. "You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart." As he sang, he took Kurt's hand in his own and put it to the centre of his chest. "And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have re-written mine by being my friend..." Blaine belted his chorus as loudly as his voice would carry as he ran up centre stage, giving Kurt goosebumps. "Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea, like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you..."
"Because I knew you," Kurt chimed in before they both sang the title of the song.
"I have been changed for good!"
"And just to clear the air," Blaine sang, turning back to bring Kurt up stage with him. "I ask forgiveness for the things I've done you blame me for."
Kurt smirked and put his arm on Blaine's shoulder. "But then I guess, we know there's blame to share."
They both took a deep breath and harmonized, "But none of it seems to matter anymore!" before allowing themselves to each sing their own chorus in unison and then fall into harmony again. "Who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better..."
"And because I knew you..." Kurt sang gently.
"Because I knew you..."
Taking a last intake of air, they sang the last lines to the song in a gentle synchronicity, "Because I knew you... I have been changed... for good."
The pair of them swayed happily in the back for the last two songs, and then it was time to read the winners.
"And the winners of the 2011 Glee Club Regionals is... New Directions!"
Kurt was happy for his prior glee club – he was sincerely. But the reading of that last name meant a lot more than just a win or a lose; to him, it meant an ultimate loss of Blaine from an aspect of his life that he could not just cut away haphazardously.
Once the curtain closed there was no telling what was going to come from either of them. Kurt didn't expect to break down into tears, but he did. Nor did Blaine expect to be wrapping him in his arms without any intentions of releasing him.
"Blaine, I don't want you to go; I don't want to do this without you," Kurt said through sobs.
Blaine walked them both off the stage and led them to a secluded room in the theatre so they could recollect themselves. "Kurt, listen to me: you don't need me to be in glee to be with you. Do you understand?" Kurt stopped crying at last, getting his last dry heave out of his system, and looked up into Blaine's eyes. "Just because I'm not a Warbler anymore doesn't mean I won't be with you."
"Are you sure?"
Blaine smiled meekly and studied Kurt's face. "I love you, Kurt. I'll be with you, no matter what happens."
"Good, because I've never been happier than I have been with you."
"I hope you'll be the one dancing with me at my prom, Kurt. I didn't even think that milestone was possible until I met you."
Kurt grinned and embraced Blaine. "Me neither." In sharing his dream, Kurt realized just how powerful their bond truly was. They had both been so integral in each other's lives, playing a role that only moved each other forward as individuals – as the force that kept the other's heart beating, regardless of how often it was limited by society.
Author's Note: That's the end of Changed for Good! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and please keep reading the other fan fictions I will be posting on here. If you have any feedback or comments, I'd love to hear them.