Kurt bounced up and down on his toes as he and Brittany stood in line to get into the festival. The line was a mile long, but Kurt couldn't have been more excited. They were finally here, finally going to the festival he'd been following for the past three years, wishing he could go to. This year, the cards had finally fallen into place, and he was able to be there.

He glanced down at his wrist where he could just see the edges of his soulmark sticking out over the cuff of his leather gloves. He was finally in New York, the place where he'd been promised to meet his soulmate since the day he'd turned five and the little Statue of Liberty outline had shown up on his wrist. He couldn't help looking at every man they saw in Central Park as a potential partner, wondering if they were going to be the one he was destined to meet and fall in love with.

His mother had described it to him best a few years before she'd passed away: "Your soulmate is out there, Kurt, destined to be yours because of that little statue on your arm." He'd just finished telling her that he felt drawn to New York every time someone said the name of the city, and he couldn't understand why. "It's like there's an invisible string tying you to that person. You can't see it, but you can feel it, and that's what makes the whole business of soulmates so pretty."

I wonder if I'm about to meet the person on the other end of that string… Kurt mused to himself.

"Kurt?" Brittany asked, waving her hand in front of his face. "Where did you go? I said your name like a billion times, but you didn't respond."

"Sorry," Kurt apologized, looking at her with a slightly chagrinned look. "What's up?"

"I was telling you about that girl," Brittany said, pointing ahead of them to a group of three girls huddled together. One had long black hair, one had long blonde hair, and the other had short brunette hair cut into a bob.

"Which one?" Kurt asked, gently guiding her hand back to her side.

"The one with the black hair," Brittany told him quietly. "I've been staring at her this whole time, and I almost thought she was a statue because I never saw her move. You can be in love with a statue, right?"

Not knowing what to say, Kurt just looked at her in confusion. He loved Brittany. He really, really did. He'd met her on his first day of college walking aimlessly around the lobby of one of the buildings. When he'd asked her what she was looking for, and she'd told him she'd lost her invisible elephant, Teenie, he'd immediately felt the need to take care of her. They'd been friends ever since, and when he'd discovered that she also had a New York soulmark, she was the first person he'd thought of when he realized he was going to be able to attend the festival.

They stood in line for nearly 30 more minutes before they were finally allowed into the concert area where the festival was taking place, and they rushed to the general admission area, eager to get as close to the stage as they could. The festival had promise-a lot of promise, Kurt thought-and was likely going to be one of the best nights of their lives. They wanted to have some of the best seats in the house.

The Legends Festival was the brainchild of Mr. Blaine Anderson, the lead singer for a group called Warbler Attack. They were a relatively new group, had been on the scene for just over six years after forming at their college, Dalton Academy. They were still up and coming and hadn't gotten very big yet, but Kurt had discovered them early on and had been enamored with the lead singer, Blaine, from the very start. Perhaps some would even call him obsessed. He grinned when he thought of the photos back in his hotel room, artistic shots he'd put together digitally on his laptop and printed. He loved them, and he hoped no one else would ever find out about them. That would be incredibly embarrassing.

Kurt had been dreaming of going to The Legends Festival ever since Blaine had put it together three years prior. He got together artists of all sizes-some new names, some older names, some big names-and got them all to sing together on an outdoor stage at the end of October. It was like heaven for anyone who liked music that wasn't traditionally played on the pop or country radio stations, but Kurt was really only there for one thing: Warbler Attack.

Sure, the other members of the band were cute. There was Elliot the drummer, Eli the bassist, Jeff the guitarist, Nick the other guitarist and back-up vocalist, and Sebastian on keyboard. Blaine, though, Blaine was the dream. He wore leather, played guitar, had the most perfect mop of curly hair Kurt had ever seen, wore stage liner, and had a voice that sounded like smooth, melted caramel. From the first moment Kurt had heard him sing, he was in love. His voice made him feel calm and connected to a part of his soul he'd never known existed. He never wanted that feeling to stop.

Luckily, the general admittance area on the grass wasn't too full yet, and Kurt and Brittany were able to find a good place to stand only a few feet from the stage. They pressed in as close as they could to the others already there, determined not to have anyone move between them and the stage and take their spot. There was a man from a local bar, Marie's Crisis, on stage, leading the group through some Disney and Broadway sing-a-long numbers while everyone waited for the ticket lines to close and the first set to begin.

"Kurt, look!" Brittany said, tugging at his shirt again and pointing. There, not too far away from them, was the dark-haired girl Brittany had seen in line. She was standing with her friends, singing along with the man at the piano, her eyes squeezed tight.

Looking past his friend, Kurt watched the other girl for a moment. Then, he looked back at Brittany. There was a look of longing in her eyes as if some part of her needed to be closer to the girl. "Do you want to scoot over?" he asked in her ear.

She nodded.

"Go. I'm right behind you."

They relocated and turned their attention back to the stage. It took almost 40 minutes before Blaine appeared on stage and everyone started cheering and whistling. Kurt even heard a few catcalls thrown the other man's way, and for some reason he couldn't name, that bothered him. Yes, Blaine was beautiful, and he knew that others would appreciate looking at him. But he couldn't put his finger on exactly why he was suddenly very uncomfortable with the attention being paid to him.

"How's everyone doing this evening?" Blaine asked the crowd and was met by another round of whistles and cheers. "That's great. I love being in New York in the fall. It's a great time of year, and Central Park is just beautiful now, don't you think?" He paused for the crowd's reaction. "I'm so glad all of you could join me and my friends here for an evening of music and fun. I truly appreciate it; we couldn't keep singing and putting out music if it wasn't for people like you. I don't want to keep you guys waiting any longer, so I'm going to go ahead and introduce our first guest. All the way from L.A. and striking out on a solo career, I want you to welcome a beautiful lady I've known for a long time: Miss Marley Rose!"

A young, thin woman took the stage, standing beside Blaine with a giant smile on her face. "Hi, Blaine!" she said softly before turning to wave at the crowd. "Hi, everybody."

"I'm so glad you could join us, Marley," Blaine said, grinning. "I was just thinking the other day about how we met. It was pretty wild, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. I was a fangirl at one of your shows," Marley replied. "I came up to you afterward, determined I was going to get a picture with you."

"Do you remember the shirt you were wearing that day?" Blaine asked her, his smile positively radiant even under the bright spotlights on the stage.

"I do," Marley agreed. "I had on a shirt I'd made that said, 'Future Mrs. Anderson'."

"And, do you remember what I told you?"

Marley blushed lightly. "That you were gay," she answered softly.

"That's right!" Blaine crowed, grinning at the crowd. "But we still became good friends that day anyway, because this girl is more than just some big dreams of marrying a celebrity." He turned back to the crowd. "Marley has an amazing voice, and the first time I heard her sing, I was blown away. I'm so glad she could join us tonight to present you with the debut performance of her first single, Invisible String!"

The crowd cheered wildly, and Blaine backed off the stage as the rear lights went down and the spotlight focused in on Marley.

That was how they spent the next several hours. Blaine would come out to check on everyone and raz the crowd back up after each performer. He'd introduce the next performer, complete with a story about how he knew them and why he thought they were so wonderful. He was very charismatic, clearly born to be on the stage, doing exactly what he was doing.

Holy hot damn, Kurt thought as he watched the man he'd been pining over on the stage. He's much hotter up close, and I'm not even that close to him. I mean, have you seen his smile? Those eyes? He's positively glowing! What I wouldn't give for just a few minutes to chat with him, tell him how much he's inspired me and kept me going while I've been working my way through college toward an impossible dream.

A few sets in, Kurt noticed that Brittany had drifted away from him. She hadn't gone too far; that was nearly impossible with this crowd all packed onto the lawn in front of the stage like sardines in a can, but she'd migrated closer to the skinny girl with long, dark hair. The two of them seemed to be dancing together, smiling and laughing. Kurt could see that the dark-haired girl's friends were watching Brittany with curious eyes, but they didn't seem too mad about her encroaching on her space, so he didn't interfere. Instead, he kept his eyes on the stage, bopping and singing along as group after group got up to do their set. He just kept hoping for another glimpse of Blaine Anderson, the man he was really there for that night.

Finally, at nearly 9 p.m., when the last song of the set was over, Blaine didn't come bounding back out on stage. Instead, the lead singer of the final band, Grilled Cheesus, stayed on stage while the rest of his group exited. "Who's having a good time?" the man asked, grinning when he got screams in return. Behind him, the stage crew was already in the process of moving equipment around, shifting the Grilled Cheesus drumkit off stage and positioning the one with the words "Warbler Attack" clearly painted on the front.

Kurt's heart skipped a bit in his chest, and he felt his pulse quicken. He was about to spend a bunch of glorious time watching the most perfect man he'd ever seen perform live on a stage in front of his eyes.

"Well, all of us that Blaine invited have had a blast performing with you guys tonight. You've been a wonderful audience, very attentive and loud," the lead singer of Grilled Cheesus went on. "And, it's my great pleasure to introduce to you the final group of the evening. As you already know, I met Blaine at a bar. We bonded over drinks, and I've considered him one of the best friends I've ever had since that night. It's my great pleasure to be the guy who gets to introduce this wild band of dudes tonight. I know you probably already know because let's be honest. You're all here for Warbler Attack tonight, aren't you?" The crowd cheered wildly. "Just what I thought," the lead singer, Finn Hudson, said. "I'm going to introduce them to you one by one anyway." He turned to look at the equipment guys. "Are we ready?" The one closest to him nodded, so the singer continued, pausing between each name for cheering and applause. "Tonight on drums, we have Miiiiiiiiiister Elliot Gilbert! On guitar, we have Mr. Jeff Sterling! On bass… Mr. Eli Crocker! Your keyboard man, Mr. Sebastian Smyyyythe! Your back-up singer and guitar god, Mr. Nick Duval! Aaaaaand finally, for the man that really needs no introduction, Mr. Blaine Anderson your lead singer!"

Blaine came trotting onto the stage, waving at everyone as if they hadn't seen him 10 times already that night at least. He grinned, taking his place behind the mic stand and giving the lead singer of Grilled Cheesus a high five. Then, without further ado, he gestured to his band and they began their first song.

Kurt was in heaven. This was the moment he'd lived for, and he was soaking up every single second. Just as he'd imagined it would be after watching a million videos of Blaine on stage, the man's performance was magic. He was electric, bouncing around and dancing while he sang. He even got some of his other bandmates in on it, urging them to dance along with him. His voice remained perfect, no matter how active he got, and Kurt was sure that the singer had never sounded better. It didn't matter if he was singing an upbeat, rowdy rock song or a slow, touching ballad. He hit every note and sang every word perfectly.

When they got to their portion of the show where Blaine did his famous cover song, however, Kurt zeroed in on the man even more. The song was a throwback to his high school days and a song he'd done at a talent show: a piano ballad version of Teenage Dream. Each time he sang it, Blaine changed up the melodies, the arrangement, and the way he sang the words, and each time was more hauntingly beautiful than the last. Kurt was staring at him, hands clasped in front of his chest, swaying along with the rest of the crowd and singing softly to himself when he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned his head just a bit, catching sight of Brittany beside him, her arm slung around the waist of the skinny girl. "What?" he hissed at her, his eyes never leaving the captivating man on stage.

"She's my soulmate," Brittany said proudly.

"What?" Kurt's head whipped around, looking at Brittany like she'd just said she was the Queen of England. "What did you say?"

"Kurt, this is Santana. Santana, my best friend Kurt." She grinned wide, tugging Santana a bit closer to her. "San's my soulmate."

"Tha-tha-that's great, Britt," Kurt said, doing his best to sound happy for her. He was happy, truly, that she'd found her soulmate, but he wished he hadn't had to find out in the middle of his favorite song. He turned his attention back to the stage. Look at those curls, those arms, he thought to himself as he watched Blaine getting ready to play the final chorus. He's sweating, too… His eyes traced a drop as it made its way down from Blaine's temple to his neck. What I wouldn't give to be-

"Kurt?"

"What, Britt?" He turned toward her, exasperated. I guess I'm not listening to any more of that song right now. I hope someone's recording it.

"Santana and I are going to share some sweet lady kisses out by the bathrooms. Find me when this is over?" She gestured toward the stage.

"Um, yeah. Sure. Enjoy," Kurt told her, turning back to the stage just as Blaine belted out the last note. The crowd cheered loudly all around him, whistling and begging for more. Must have been a great performance.

"Thank you. Thank you," Blaine told the crowd as he got up from the piano. "We just have one more song we want to do for you tonight. It's another old classic from our days in college, one that some of our original fans will recognize I'm sure."

Please be Rise. Please be Rise. Please be Rise.

"But before we get started, I want to thank you all one more time for coming. Tonight has been an awesome night full of friendship and music, and I'm so glad you could make it. I also want to thank this lovely gentleman, David from Marie's Crisis who led us in our sing-a-long songs tonight. Marie's has always been a big supporter of The Legend Festival, and so to thank them tonight, myself and a few of my friends from the show will be joining them at the bar to continue this night of celebration and music. So, join us if you'd like. I know we'll make some more great memories yet.

"This night just proves what I've always thought was possible, that people who don't know each other could all come together and be united with song. That's all I wanted for us tonight, and that's all I want for the world. I want the world to know that unity is possible, and we can all love each other despite our differences. That is, in part, what this last song is about tonight. We need to love one another, but we also have to love ourselves, no matter where we are in our lives."

Please be Rise. Please be Rise. Please be Rise.

"This song is called Rise. I hope you enjoy." The crowd clapped again, and the band began their final song.

Kurt loved Rise, too. It was one of his favorite songs from the band's conception, and he listened to it often. It was a song that reminded him he had a life ahead of him yet, a life that he could still do something with, still dream through. No matter how much it sucked and no matter how much he hated it at the moment, he wasn't at his final destination. He would rise and do what he'd always wanted to do; he had time, and he could make it.

When the last note faded away, Blaine raised his hand in the air, waving one last time at the crowd before bowing with his bandmates. Then, they all exited the stage, the lights in the area went on, and the crowd began to slowly drift apart.

What a beautiful night… Kurt thought to himself as he began to walk along with the rest of the crowd toward the exit, which just so happened to be the way they'd come in. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I'm so glad I got to come tonight, to bring Britt along with me to- Britt! She found her soulmate! I need to find her!

Stepping out of the line he'd been slowly moving along with, Kurt picked his way over toward the bathrooms, keeping his eyes peeled for his best friend. He finally found her doing exactly what she said she'd be doing: getting her sweet lady kisses on.

"Hey, Britt," he said softly as he approached. "Show's over. You ready to go?"

Britt pulled off of her soulmate's lips to look at him with shiny, bright eyes. "Kurt!" She hopped over to him, dragging the other girl-Santana-along behind her. "You found us!"

"I did," he agreed, smiling at Santana and giving her a soft, "Hi."

"Hi," she greeted back just as softly. "You said something about going?"

"Yeah. The show's over, so…"

"Where are we going?" Brittany asked. "Back to the hotel? Can I bring San?"

"Um, she can come along for sure," Kurt told his friend, "but I was kinda… Well, I was wondering… Do-do you think we could go to Marie's Crisis?"