Chapter 32 - The Live Shows (Part 4)

The week flew by, and Finn spent every moment of it practising. Soon, he was back on the familiar stage of the Concert hall and was ready for the round to start. He could see Taylor, Kurt, Santana, Carole, Burt, Mr. Shuester, Mrs. Shuester, Clint and Dirty all in the audience, watching. The finalists all sang the group number together.

*Sings Young by Tulisa - X Factor 2012 Group Version*

The group number was a great way for them to build camaraderie, despite the fact that they were competing and some of them were already eliminated. The crowd loved it. After the group number, the acts started to perform. Finn was the fourth performer out of five. The way it was going to work was that each performer would perform one song on the Saturday, and one on the Sunday. Finn walked onto the stage, holding his traditional guitar. He could see that Ella and Gracie had joined the group of his family and friends in the audience. He took a deep breath and began singing. He was so close to the finals, he could practically feel it. He was not going to let it all slip away. Not after he had been granted a miracle and made it through the showdown against Ella.

*Sings SOS by ABBA - James Arthur X Factor Version*

Once again, Finn had taken an extremely popular and famous song, and made it completely his own. He had blown it out of the water, but was anxious for the judges' feedback and voting. The last round's showdown was too clear in his mind.

"Finn! Number one I want to say, it would have been an absolute travesty if you were not in the competition. We need original talents like you in this industry. I love what you did with the ABBA song. I never thought that angst, and ABBA would work so well, but you certainly made the song your own and that's why you're a real talent, a future recording artist. I think that everyone should vote for you."

"Finn, that is what is so amazing about you, and why you're so talented. You take a classic and you completely make it your own to the point that I barely recognize it. You Finn Hudsoned it all the way, and at this point, I want either you or Dalton to win the competition. But what's truly amazing is that even if you don't win the competition, even though I want you to, if you don't, I know you'll sell more records than anyone else."

"Finn, when a contestant's in the bottom 2, it must be really tempting to come back and play it really safe and afraid. And you've done none of that tonight. You've brought your integrity back and really challenged yourself. It would be crazy, if you didn't come at least second, if not win the competition. I was so disappointed to see you in the bottom 2 last week, but I know that won't be the case this week."

"From the opinion of a songwriter, you are the worst. You take everyone's music and make it so much better. And that would suck. You're the game changer, you know. Please, I don't want to be seeing Finn Hudson in the bottom 2 again, he works harder than anyone else and he is playing in a different league to everyone else."

The audience screamed in approval. Around 24 hours later, he was back on stage and about to perform his second song selection. He had thought long and hard about choosing this song and, like Sexy and I Know It, it could either go really great, or backfire completely.

*Sings Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye - James Arthur X Factor Cover*

Finn did a great job and, sure enough, he breezed through to the Ninth Round. He was in the Quarter Finals of the X Factor! If someone had told him a year ago that he would be in the quarter finals of one of the biggest singing competitions in the world, he would have laughed in their face. He knew that he had no time to celebrate. He needed to start working on his next songs. They had to spend a day rehearsing their group number: Viva La Vida, by Coldplay. The next 6 days were spent hard at work on his two solos. The themes were Songs for someone special and Songs to get you to the final. Finn wanted a more casual approach for his songs. The past two rounds had been so intense, he felt like he should lift his foot off the gas a little bit. Even his outfit was different. Rather than wearing a formal button down, slacks and possibly a jacket, he wore a casual polo and jeans. For his first song, Finn decided on one of his favourite songs that they had every sung as part of Glee.

*Sings One by U2 - James Arthur X Factor Cover*

By the end of the song, the audience were all clapping along and stamping their feet. Kurt, Santana and Mr. Shue all knew exactly why he had chosen that song as his first performance. They were back in the Concert Hall on Sunday. It was like they were practically living there now. Finn changed his attire to the complete opposite for this song. He wore a black tuxedo, with a vest, jacket and bow tie. He started the song at the edge of the stage, and walked towards center stage as he began singing.

*Sings The Power of Love by Frankie goes to Hollywood - James Arthur X Factor cover*

This was by far his best performance of the series and the judges and audience knew that. They were clapping and cheering him for almost 5 minutes after he finished singing. Nicole Scherzinger waited for the cheering to die down before she started with the feedback.

"Finn! If there's any justice, you are sending right through to the final. You've paid all your dues, you've given all the small gigs with nobody listening, but now people are listening. You're in everybody's home. You're original. You're incredible. And you've got the X Factor."

"I feel so proud to be a part of this show while you're in it. I know I've said this before, this is everything I wanted to see when I watched the X Factor so many years ago. And what would make me even prouder is to be sitting on this panel and hear the words 'and the winner is… Finn.' Make it happen people!"

"Finn, this is simple. That was the performance of the series. That was amazing. It really was. You are a great singer, but there's also something else about you. You bring out the emotion in people and I know there are people all over the country listening and watching that performance. I look at you, and I see a future Platinum artist. Well done"

"Finn, this is why I came to the US buddy. Because of people like you. And come on people. If Finn Hudson isn't in the final, then what the hell am I doing here? Please, that performance was perfect. It was epic. It was transcending. It was beautiful."

By the end of the day, Finn had made it to the semi-finals. He was allowed to spend the rest of the night celebrating with his family and friends. Despite the fact that he was in the same city as a lot of his family and friends, he only had time to see them around once a week as he was insanely busy. He went to a bar with all of his family and friends and they celebrated his achievement. Him and Dalton had to leave early and they had group rehearsal early the next day. Dalton's family didn't have much money so couldn't fly his parents out, but the X-Factor would fly his parents into the States if Dalton made it to the finals. Finn, Dalton and a boy band group called UnionJ were the only people left in the competition.

In the morning, all of the X Factor finalists met up in the main studio and practised their group number. They were singing the song Without You by Usher. It was great to see Ella happy again. She had been kind of bummed out when she was eliminated and Finn felt slightly guilty. His mind was so confused. He was starting to have feelings for Ella, but he felt that he wasn't completely over Quinn either. His mind was a mess, but he forced all of the feelings deep down until the end of the show. The day after the group rehearsal, Dalton and Finn walked into the studio for the penultimate time. They had spent so much time there that it had become his home away from home.

"OK guys, I'd like to start by saying that I'm really proud of how far both of you have come. It makes me so happy to see how much you guys have improved in the past 3 months. I still remember your first auditions. Anyways, the theme for song 1 is: No theme. You can sing whatever the hell you want. The theme for the second song is Celebrity duets. Dalton, we have found a celebrity for you to sing with. And Finn, a celebrity requested to sing with you. I think you two know each other."

Just then, Taylor and Dua Lipa walked into the room. Taylor went over to Finn and gave him a huge hug.

"I'm so happy for you, Finn. You made it to the semifinals of the X Factor. I'm going to do whatever I can to help you make it to the finals. You've done so much for me in the past few months, I want to repay the favor."

"Thanks, Taylor."

They spent the half of the week working on their song. It was a pretty complicated number and it took many long hours in the studio to master it. When they were finally satisfied with the result, Finn moved on to his second song. He already had a faint idea of what he wanted to do, and by the weekend of the performance, he had memorised the song so well, he could do it in his sleep. It was finally Saturday, and Finn was nervous. One round. One round left until the finals. He just needed to remain in the top 2 and he would be ok. There were no more Showdowns, so if you were last, you were straight out. Finn's mind was somewhere else during the group number. He didn't need to put in much effort. He had one small verse as a solo, which was anyways being split in half with Ella.

*Sings Without you by Usher - X Factor 2012 group Version*

After the performance, the performers went backstage, the three still in competition were waiting to go on. Finn was first.

*Sings Feeling Good by Nina Simone - James Arthur X Factor Version*

His number actually started with him backstage. He had choreographed it so that during the intro of the song, he was walking from backstage, and the stage doors in the middle would open as soon as the first verse started. He would dramatically walk out and start singing. It worked to perfection, and added to his flawless singing. The judges don't give feedback during the Semi-finals and Finals. They just listened and enjoyed Finn's superb performance. The next day, Finn and Taylor had dressed up very formally for their song. Taylor looked gorgeous, with her long, flowy hair blending nicely with her shimmering gold dress. Finn also looked really handsome. He wore a black tuxedo jacket and slacks, but with a gold vest and bow tie to match Quinn's outfit. If they weren't brother and sister, they would have been all over each other. The judges even commented on how sharp they both looked. But looks wouldn't win Finn the competition. He needed to wow the judges with their duet. They listened to the music starting to play. Finn sang the first verse solo, and then Quinn sang the second verse solo. After that point, they started harmonising and singing together. Their voices blended perfectly. After they sang and they had stepped off-stage, they agreed that they needed to sing a few duets together. It could earn them a lot of money and, more importantly, they sounded amazing together.

Finally, after all the acts had performed twice, the host brought them all on-stage. Taylor stood next to Finn, Dua next to Dalton, and N'SYNC stood next to the other boy band. The host walked to the center of the stage.

"Well everybody, this is a big moment. We will find out who you all voted for to make it to the finals. Two out of the three acts on stage with me, will make it to the finals next week. Without further ado… the first spot in the final, with a record 66.8% of the vote… Mr. Finn Hudson!"

The crowd roared and he could hear his family and friends screaming. Finn's heart leapt. He had made it to the finals. There was one final weekend, to conclude three months of hard work. He was slightly sad that the competition was ending, but also slightly relieved. He had practically no social life for the past three months. Every waking moment was spent on music. Taylor gave him a huge embrace, and Louis did the same. They then turned back to the host, to hear who would be the second finalist.

"And your second finalist, with 22.1% of the vote, Mr. Dalton Harris. Dalton's reaction was very similar to Finn's. He jumped high into the air, his face filling with joy. Finn gave his friend a hug. He was so happy for him. Another thing that Finn was thankful to the X Factor for, was that he had made such great friends because of it. Taylor would never have found him if it weren't for the X Factor publicity; he wouldn't have met Dalton, Gracie and Ella. Louis was practically bursting with pride. Two of his mentees had made it to the final.

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