Come fly with me
It was just after midnight when Santana spotted that Brittany had vanished, along with Kurt and Blaine. For some reason, this made her feel uneasy. She sought out Finn to see if he knew where they might be. When he replied coolly that he thought that they had headed up to the roof, she panicked. All week, Brittany had said that she couldn't wait to join her unicorns. Now, she was several stories up with them, on the roof of the building. With a touch of fear, Santana found herself running up the stairs, dreading what she might find at the top.
She heard Brittany long before she could see her. She was squealing, either in fear or delight. On flinging open the roof door, Santana could not see her. The rooftop was completely empty, yet she could still hear the girl she loved. "Look up," came Blaine's voice, suddenly at her side. She did, and what she saw left her stunned and speechless. There was Brittany, clinging tightly to Kurt's hand, as they flew through the dark November sky. Flying. Brittany was flying with an angel, her face lit up with joy and exhilaration as they swooped and soared high above the streets.
"What if someone sees, Blaine? All it would take would be one person to look up and call the cops…"
"No-one would believe anybody that did call - they'd assume it was just another crank, either drunk or high. Trust us, this is safe."
Santana had, without realising it, taken Blaine's hand as she watched the scene above her. It was only when she noticed that Kurt and Brittany seemed to be getting closer that she became aware that her own feet were no longer firmly planted on the rooftop. She turned to Blaine, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat, with a look halfway between fear and delight. "This was the easiest way to get you up here too. Look on it as a thank you for your help tonight and for being a good friend. You're safe as long as you hold on, so just relax and enjoy…" With that Blaine took her into a swooping dive. The force of the air, the unusual feeling of virtual weightlessness made Santana scream - not in terror, but in pure delight in the ability to defy gravity.
She felt a sense of freedom unlike anything she had felt before. All her worries and anxieties seemed to vanish as she was pulled through the air - the Wendy to Blaine's Peter Pan. Better still, she would be able to discuss the experience with Brittany, as she was experiencing it too. Suddenly, she found that they were flying alongside Kurt and Brittany, close enough for her to reach out and take her hand. The feelings only intensified as she and the girl she loved and adored soared hand in hand above the busy Manhattan streets. If the others could see her now, they would never believe it, unless they witnessed it for themselves. Glancing back at the rooftop, she saw that Sam and Rachel were doing just that.
It had been Finn that had asked them to follow him up to the roof, where they now stood wide eyed and entranced. It was even less believable than a room full of people suddenly having the ability to see angels. After a period that seemed like hours, but was only minutes, Kurt and Blaine brought the two girls back onto the roof. No sooner had they landed than Finn grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her into the air with him. Blaine was offering his hand to Sam, with a quirk of his eyebrows - the gesture was accepted willingly and Sam too vanished up into the sky. This left Kurt to turn to Santana and say "Take Brittany back to the party - and can you ask Puck and Quinn to come up? They can have the next turn…"
Thus began the process of three angels taking their friends for a brief flight above the streets of New York. New Directions and Warblers alike, all got their moment to soar like a bird above the city streets. Everyone's reaction was different - Tina, Nick, Jeff and Sugar squealed and shouted with excitement just as much as Brittany had; some took the experience with a wide grin; others with an initial fear which they quickly lost, in the case of Wes, as soon as he allowed himself to open his eyes. For one person, the event was a life changing moment that nobody could have predicted. They had not anticipated that as Finn pulled Artie up into the air, he would for those few minutes as they flew feel his legs, as if the accident had never happened. The small man cried with delight as he soared, the whole thing being witnessed by Puck and Mike, who had between them carried Artie up to the roof. It left them shocked and silent. Suffice to say, once Finn realised what had happened, Artie was given a flight far longer than anyone else's.
The majority of the older guests at the party declined the chance to fly, with a few notable exceptions. Isabelle took up Kurt's invitation and flew through the air with him in a state of childlike wonder. Cooper larked about with Blaine, forcing his brother to swoop lower and lower as he yelled in delight. To everyone's amazement, Sue took up the tentative offer to experience a flight through the dark skies with Kurt on one side and Blaine on the other. The sound of Sue laughing in a less maniacal way than usual was almost unsettling to those that bore witness. It was the first time that anyone could remember seeing her genuinely happy.
Then those moments of flight were over. It was now approaching 2am, and people were starting to realise that the good time was nearly over. The time was coming when the three angels they had known, and the fourth that they all knew so much about, but had only just met, would return to their supernatural state - visible, but untouchable. In recognition of this, Elizabeth once again cleared her throat and made the room fall silent. "In the normal state of affairs, a large pile of gifts for the happy couple should have, by now, built up. I'm aware that such things are impossible in the circumstances, so we have decided to reverse the formula. Therefore we have a gift for each of you."
She nodded to Kurt, who continued. "If you look down, on the table in front of you, everyone should see a small box. It contains a ring of a unique design; a gold band with a small feather held upon it. The feather is an angel's wing feather, taken from the downy layer in the very centre of the wings. Each of the feathers comes from one of the three of us. For the older members of the New Directions, most of you have a feather from Finn, the exceptions being Mercedes, Santana and Brittany, who have a feather from me; and Sam, who has a feather from Blaine. He also has provided the feathers for the five newest members of the New Directions, and for Wes, David, Thad and Sebastian. As for me, I have Nick, Jeff and Trent, along with most of the older friends gathered here - with the exception of Carole, who naturally has a feather from Finn."
Blaine then took over. "Essentially, the angel who's feather you receive is your guardian angel. We will be watching over all of you at all times, so you should always be on your best behaviour. Having said that, if you need our help, we will be straight there to give what aid we can to you. There are certain things we cannot do - we can't punish other people who you might have a grudge against, nor can we prevent your death if it is your time. When that does come, we will be waiting for you, in all probability as a group, to guide you through the difficult hours immediately afterward. Trust me, you will need someone, especially to be there as your wings grow. The pain that causes is the worst that I personally have experienced. Hopefully, we will not have to do that for any of you for many years to come."
By now, everyone had opened their box and were staring at the beautifully made gold ring inside. Thoughtfully, a matching chain had been provided for those that did not wish to wear their ring on their finger. "As long as you are wearing your ring, be it on your finger, or on its chain round your neck, you will be protected by ourselves and by all other angels," finished Blaine. He had barely finished speaking when he noticed that Wes was already put his ring on its chain, and was fastening it around his neck; everyone else following him in rapid succession. What was immediately noticed by all three angels was the way that Nick carefully placed the ring on Jeff's finger, the latter repeating his actions in return. It seemed to be a sign that they had something else on their minds.