They couldn't return to his cottage. Blaine was certain the pack would be there waiting for him, waiting to see if he would be so stupid, to see if he had survived. And he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing.
He'd rather let them believe he had been consumed by the fire they had set.
Blaine coughed, expelling some of the smoke that had entered his lungs.
"Are you okay?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Blaine wiped spit from his mouth against his foreleg and then turned his head and coughed again.
Blaine continued to huddle up against Kurt as Kurt regained strength. After a few moments, Kurt pulled himself up into a sitting position and ran his hand across Blaine's neck, combing his fingers through his thick mane, now matted in spots from saliva and blood, his own and others'. Blaine just wanted to be as close to Kurt as possible, and now that the fight was over, his body was overcome with exhaustion.
Blaine, still struggling from the smoke, broke away from Kurt, crawled on his belly toward the stream, and took a drink of the water, which cooled his mouth and sinuses, helping him breathe more freely.
He padded back over to Kurt and laid his head in his lap. Kurt sat there grinning fondly at Blaine, wondering why Blaine was so willing to make the sacrifices he did for Kurt. Then Blaine shifted back into human form, and, noticing marks, Kurt ran his thumb over Blaine's left cheek. There were three thick, slightly raised streaks of scar tissue obviously left by claws. His cuts had healed already, but the residual scarring of the tissue remained, the only evidence of the fight.
Blaine sighed at the touch and then pushed himself up on his hands and closed the gap between them. It wasn't a hungry kiss, it wasn't a kiss that was asking for something or wanting to lead to anything else. It was a kiss that said I'm so in love with you. It was a kiss that gave everything and took nothing, except for Kurt's breath. And when Blaine finally pulled away, Kurt looked as if he might cry had it been possible.
The rain picked up again, and cold, wet drops began to fall on them, but they remained seated on the ground that was gradually turning to mud and mush.
"What now?" Blaine finally spoke. "Where do we go from here?"
"We could go anywhere," Kurt answered. "I'm ready to leave this town behind, anyway. It's time."
"But what about us, Kurt? How are we going to last?"
"I don't know, Blaine."
"But do you want this? You want to keep doing this?"
"I've never wanted anything more."
And Blaine's heart felt so full that it began to ache in his chest. He pulled Kurt in for another kiss, and Kurt held him even closer, getting lost in it for a few moments before pulling away abruptly.
"They're not at your house right now. I read the area, and it's clear. You can hurry back and pack a bag. But you have to go now. Meet me back at my place."
Blaine wanted to protest, but he turned away, and with one last look back at Kurt, he shifted back into a wolf and raced toward the cottage through the rain.
-s-
The old wooden door creaked open, and Blaine shuffled into the room, making a beeline for his bed. He threw on an outfit, then leaned down and pulled out his bag and began stuffing it with the few outfits he owned. He reached under the bed to grab a few more things, and then paced the house a few times, making sure there wasn't anything he was overlooking. His eyes fell on a chest of drawers, the one his mother had once used, but he hadn't been in it in over two years. He couldn't remember if there was anything that had been left inside.
Giving in to his last-minute curiosity, Blaine slid open every drawer, three of the four coming up empty, but then he slid the bottom drawer open and caught sight of something laying flat inside the wooden bottom. He kneeled down to examine it more closely, and then reached down to pull out what appeared to be documents of some sort.
Once they were in his hands, they suddenly felt heavy, and, seeing that these documents weren't just any documents, a dread began to fill Blaine. His stomach flipped and his hands trembled as he lifted the envelope from the top of the stack and turned it over to lift the flap. Pulling out the slightly yellowed paper, Blaine unfolded it carefully and read from the hand-written letter.
His brow furrowed as he read, trying to make sense of it. The writing was his father's messy scrawl, at least, that's what he could gather from the signature at the bottom. But upon closer examination, anger began to flare up within him, and he nearly crinkled the paper in his hands. It was impossible. The letter was dated a few years after his father's death.
He didn't know what to think of it, and he didn't have much time, so he shoved the letter back in its envelope, snatched up a few things from the pile of documents, and stuffed them in his bag. After one final sweep of the small cottage, Blaine was off. He couldn't process any of this right now, he just needed to get back to Kurt.
-s-
"We need to be quick," Kurt said as he dug a few things out of his closet and then pulled some small boxes from under his bed. "Luckily, I don't own that much stuff." He unzipped his backpack and a duffle bag and began to fill them with his possessions, carefully folded garments, magazines, sheet music, and vinyls.
Blaine stood off to the side with his own rucksack filled and sitting on the ground by his feet. He watched as Kurt gathered up the last of his things, grabbed the straps of his bags, and then picked up a set of keys off of his desk.
"Let's go. Now, before I change my mind and just go to Dalton and rip Sebastian's throat out," Kurt said. He took in and let out a deep breath.
"Kurt," Blaine said softly. "Let's just get out of here." He lifted his own bag, shouldered the strap, and made his way up the stairs and out the front door, Kurt following close behind.
The Escalade was parked in the driveway, and Kurt hit the button on the key fob, unlocking the doors with two quick flashes of the headlights. Blaine climbed into the passenger side and threw his bag into the back, shutting the car door. He waited for Kurt as he quickly secured his bags in the trunk area and closed the tailgate with a click.
Blaine stared at his hands in his lap, and it all began to finally hit him. This was it. They were leaving, and they weren't coming back. It wasn't like he was leaving much behind, but it still felt odd and he felt a little sad to leave his home on the reservation, the only place he had ever known.
The driver side door slammed shut, and the seatbelt clicked.
"Are you ready?"
Blaine turned his head, and, as soon as his eyes met Kurt's, he knew the answer.
"Yeah."
Kurt started the ignition, shifted the SUV into gear, and began to back out of the driveway. And then they were pulling forward, heading off to the unknown.
Blaine stared out the window for a while, watching the neighborhood roll by until they were past its limits and driving along roads past long stretches of fields and farmland.
"This thing eats gas," Kurt finally spoke, stirring Blaine. "Luckily I still have a decent amount of funds from the past few years, so we might just make it to our destination."
It suddenly occurred to Blaine that he really didn't know what their destination was.
"And where are we going?" Blaine asked.
Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. I was thinking I'd just keep driving until I couldn't drive anymore." He was quiet for a moment. "Have you ever seen the ocean, Blaine?"
"No. Never."
Kurt was quiet again, but he wore a smile on his face that made Blaine's stomach flutter.
"Let's see where life takes us, shall we?"
"Okay."
"Just okay?"
"More than okay. Perfect." And Blaine reached over to turn the radio on. It took a few tries and twists of the knob until he settled on a station.
"Katy Perry?" Kurt asked.
"I don't know. It's catchy. I've never heard music like this before."
"Then by all means indulge. I grant you permission to have full control over the radio while we're on the road. I don't mind."
"Thank you," Blaine said.
"You're welcome. Besides, I have always been fascinated by modern pop music. There's so much variation, and yet, it's all basically the same four chords." Kurt giggled, and Blaine grinned at the foreign sound. It was the first time he had seen Kurt so relaxed and...happy. Blaine knew then that Kurt was in his element when he was moving, because it must be the only thing he really knows how to do anymore. It was as if the world didn't want him, and if he kept leaving it behind, eventually it would forget who he was.
Then an incredible sadness overtook Blaine, and he turned his head to look out the window again.
"Aw, c'mon, Blaine. It's not that bad," Kurt said. "Change is a part of life. Minds change, hearts change, people change, and dreams change...People get left behind, forgotten. People lose people. And there's nothing anyone can do about it."
"Well, maybe there is," Blaine said quietly. He was glad that Kurt didn't question him further.
When they reached the highway, Blaine swallowed hard, but then leaned back and closed his eyes. He opened them a few times along the way before settling back again. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a sign that read:
Welcome to Indiana
Crossroads of America
-s-
Blaine blinked his eyes open and looked around, disoriented and wondering why he was strapped in. Then he heard the soft rumble of the highway beneath the wheels of the vehicle, and it all flooded back to him. With a yawn, he stretched the best he could and twisted around to look at Kurt who was still driving and showing no signs of fatigue.
But as he roused a bit more, the movement hit Blaine, and he desperately had to relieve himself. Once he did, he also knew that his stomach would begin an assault on him.
"I've already planned a stop in Omaha," Kurt said from reading Blaine's thoughts.
"Omaha? Like, Nebraska?" Blaine asked. That had to be at least eight hours from where he last remembered them being.
"You were out for a while, Blaine. Slept soundly, too," Kurt explained.
When they reached the city limits, it was almost as if this oasis had been erected in the middle of nowhere, rising up from the deserted prairie flatlands they had been traversing for much of their trip. Blaine stared in awe out the window as they rolled down the streets, along the river, past the foliage that lined the streets, and then they pulled into a gas station, and Kurt killed the engine.
Blaine wasted no time relieving himself, and when he got back to the car, he was surprised to find that Kurt had already grabbed some burgers for him, and he handed him the paper bag when he was back in his seat.
They continued on their way, and it hadn't yet occurred to Blaine that, although the Escalade was on full, Kurt himself was going to run out of fuel eventually. His eyes grew steadily darker as they drove on.
-s-
Blaine found it difficult to keep his eyes open, and he slept a lot along the way. But when the vehicle came to a stop along a desert highway, Blaine stirred and looked around to see that Kurt was gone.
He sat up, frantically searching the car until he looked out the back and saw Kurt standing off in the distance, staring at what, he couldn't figure it out. He watched him for a few moments before climbing out of the car and shuffling through the sandy earth, dried grasses crunching underneath his shoes with each step.
"What are you doing?" Blaine asked when he was right up behind Kurt.
"Be still for a moment. I need silence," Kurt whispered. Then his head turned ever so slightly, and a coyote howled somewhere in the area. Kurt's eyes were dark, and he licked his lips.
"No, Kurt," Blaine said firmly.
But he began to move swiftly toward the sound, and Blaine rushed to grab his arm, pulling him back toward him. Kurt looked angry as he swung around and stared darkly into Blaine's eyes.
"If that was what you needed, why didn't you just tell me?" Blaine said.
"Blaine, this is ridiculous -"
"No, Kurt, it's not."
"You're not going to be my personal blood bank that whenever I get thirsty I just go and drop a few coins in and out pops a drink from Blaine the vending machine! I don't want it to be that way, and I won't let it be that way."
"But why not? I told you before that that's what I want!"
"Because you're more than that to me, Blaine!" Kurt yelled. His chest heaved and he turned around, running a hand through his hair. "Can't you see you mean more than that to me?" he said brokenly.
"I'm so sorry," Blaine said, and he felt heat rise up in his face as tears welled in his eyes.
Kurt turned around and saw Blaine looking devastated, and he wrapped his arms around him and held him in a tight embrace. "It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong." But as Kurt spoke, the same hunger that was eating at him earlier while they were in the car together hit him full force. Blaine had been sleeping, and Kurt couldn't keep from looking over every few minutes, fighting the urge to wake him up or just have his way.
"I love you, Kurt," Blaine said through the tears now choking him up. "Is it so wrong to want to make sacrifices for someone?"
"I - " Kurt began, but Blaine was right. Relationships weren't clean and simple, and they were never equal. But all relationships were symbiotic in some sense. No longer able to hold back, Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine's and breathed in deeply. Then he trailed kisses down his jaw to his neck, slowly parted his lips, and then paused.
"Do it," Blaine spoke, barely a whisper and almost growl.
Kurt sank his teeth into Blaine's throat and was met with a hiss as Blaine sucked air through his clenched teeth. It stung for a moment, and Blaine felt tears escape the corners of his eyes, but he relaxed as Kurt pressed his tongue against his skin and began to drink. As soon as Kurt tasted Blaine's blood, he was high again, dizzy off of everything that was Blaine.
He drank until he was full, and Blaine remained strong the entire time, becoming slightly lightheaded which passed almost immediately. Kurt pulled off and ran his tongue across the wound like before, and then brought Blaine close to his body again, resting his head on his shoulder.
"I can't live with myself if I feel like I'm just taking and taking from you and never giving anything in return. Honestly, what do I have to offer you?" Kurt spoke hurriedly and quietly.
Blaine didn't miss a beat.
"Everything, Kurt. Life, love, experience...wisdom. And you've given me something far more valuable than anyone ever has. I never would have left that dingy little cottage. I would have spent my entire life moping around and living an absolutely unextraordinary life - barely living. Without you - " Blaine pulled away and took a step toward the car, and Kurt followed, confused. "Without you, Kurt, I never would have found it. Get in, and I'll show you."
Kurt obeyed, and climbed back into the Escalade, gazing curiously at Blaine who reached into the back and grabbed his bag before hopping back into the passenger seat. He pulled the envelopes out, and Kurt watched in intrigue.
"They're letters. From my father. He's not dead, Kurt. At least, he didn't die when my mother said he did." He pointed out the date and then handed it over to Kurt to read.
"Wow, I - I don't know what to say." Kurt continued to read the document.
Blaine looked down at his lap and picked up the second letter that he hadn't opened back at the house. Lifting it up, he noticed that this one was still sealed and wasn't addressed to his mother. It was addressed to him. He thought he was imagining it, but then he tore the letter open and pulled it out. The date was even more recent, right before his mother had died.
Blaine brought his hand up to cover his mouth as he read, eyes rapidly scanning and shifting left to right until he reached the end.
"He's -" Blaine stopped and shook his head, biting back tears.
"What is it?" Kurt asked, reaching a hand to place it on Blaine's shoulder.
"He was trying to protect me this entire time. I can't believe it. He didn't want me to turn out like him..."
"Does it say where he went?"
Blaine nodded, and Kurt squeezed his shoulder gently before letting go. Blaine looked down at the letter again before folding it back up and placing it back in his bag.
"We're headed to the coast, right?" Blaine asked.
Kurt nodded.
"Let's go, then."