A/N: Okay, so chapter two is done! It's a bit shorter, but I wanted to post it tonight and I put Blaine through a lot of unpleasantries in the last chapter, so the least I could do was to cut down his suffering in this one. This chapter will hopefully clear some things up for you and give you more of a back-story to what is going on.
Chapter Two
The city is covered in a cool late spring night when the stabbing and clawing, the ripping and tearing stops. The shaking is still there, making getting up from his spot by the door nearly impossible. He probably shouldn't move yet, but he can feel the sweat rolling down his neck and into his soaked t-shirt. He needs a shower, badly.
So he gets up, pushing the thoughts of Kurt – it hurts to think his name, so he avoids it – to the back of his mind once more, and stumbles into the small, but clean, bathroom.
He takes his time, letting the warm water rinse away the sweat and dried tears from his face and body. He lets a few more salty drops fall from his eyes when his one love's face flashes before his eyes.
After another ten minutes he's had enough of the warm water spraying his back, not doing a thing to ease his still aching muscles. Nothing but time will settle that ache, and he knows it. He turns off the water and reaches for a towel.
After drying off, he stands a while in front of the bathroom mirror. The towel is wrapped around his waist, and apart from his wet hair he looks like he always has. He looks exactly the same as when he was up there. There is nothing on him that can give away the misery of the last few millennia, or even the previous day. There's no bruising, though his body feel like it's been through one of those machines that crumples up cars into little metal cubes. There's not even bags under his deep hazel eyes.
The only thing that will give him away is the pained look in his eyes. It has been his constant companion since he fell. Since he was kicked out of Heaven for loving the wrong being.
No, the right being, he tells himself and a small fire becomes visible in his eyes. It dies quickly – there is nothing to keep it alive.
Blaine sighs and leaves the steam-filled comforts of the bathroom and enters the cool bedroom. His muscles have stopped shaking – almost.
He knows he should eat something, but his stomach turns at the thought of food. Human food is not that bad, and his body is able to break it down and use it for fuel, but he's never hungry after a day like the one he just had. He goes to the kitchen anyway.
Hours later, he looks out over the dark city and new tears fill his eyes. He lets them come. He lets them roll from his eyes and over his cheeks, to finally fall to their demise from his jaw line.
He can't sleep, so he sits on his bed, his bare feet on the floor, and looks out over the sleeping city. He has changed out of the towel – it still reminds him too much of his former life – to a pair of comfortable sweatpants and an ordinary t-shirt. His hair has dried long ago and is now curling away at the top of his head.
Kurt would always run his fingers through his hair when it was like this. He had always called it 'wild' and Blaine would take that opportunity to point out that Kurt's fingers were the only thing that could tame it. Then they'd smile at each other and…
No, bad train of thought. New tears burned in his eyes.
The memories were all so fresh after having assaulted him for hours. It was like they took their time to draw back to the iron cage he'd built for them.
He knows he won't be able to sleep until they're back in that cage and it's too risky to try. He knows he will only relive them all, not just the one which always visits him, but all of them.
He doesn't move until he sees the first rays of light hit the skyscrapers in the east. They paint the sky a dull pink that mixes in with the dim blue and the newly awakened yellow. It's beautiful, but he remembers what it looked like from up there.
The memories are persistent this time, they won't settle back into their cage.
"So no sleep for Blaine," he mutters to himself.
It has happened a few times before, when he's been weak and not been able to withstand the onslaught. When he experienced it the first time he'd gone to sleep after sitting trough the worst of it. He'd been exhausted after the intense physical pain and hadn't considered the consequences. He'd learned his lesson.
They persisted for a couple of days, wearing him out but never breaking him.
What if I let them break me?
"No, I won't let them. I can't do that to him."
Somehow he still believes there's a way. A way to save Kurt. After a few millennia you'd think he'd given up on the impossible task of breaking into Heaven and steal back his beloved angel from His well-guarded dwellings.
"I wonder if you can see me now, my love." It's not for the first time he wonders that, and he doubts it will be the last.
Blaine stays in his apartment throughout that day. At one point he makes a half-hearted attempt to make an omelet, adding some thinly sliced ham and the last of the bell pepper to the egg mix. He over-salts it and ends up throwing it out.
He stands by the kitchen window for a while, looking at the humans rushing home from a busy day at work. He sees a young couple walking hand in hand on the sidewalk. There's a brisk wind rustling the treetops nearby and the girl snuggles up to the boy, who wraps his arms tightly and protectively around her.
"Come, walk with me, my love."
Blaine turns around and he is no longer in the small apartment in 21st century New York. He is back in the meadow they used to claim as their own, back when the world was new. He can see the big oak tree, planted at the Creation, which held their names – and so many of their secrets.
He cannot see him, but he can feel him close. He turns again, and he comes into view. He looks brilliant in the bright, warm sun. His chest is bare and defined, and Blaine can glimpse the last of his cloud-white wings as they are being pulled into his tall, lean body. His skin is usually a soft creamy white, but in this light it looks almost golden.
"You are so beautiful," he whispers in the wind.
The angel, his angel, turns around, and those bluegreen eyes that Blaine cannot look into long enough are looking back at him. They glimmer like some long lost precious stone when the sun touches them and the angel holds out a delicate hand for him to take.
He takes a couple of steps, and he can feel the soft grass under the balls of his feet and in between his toes. He takes a couple more and is then able to reach his lover's outstretched hand. It is soft to the touch, just like he remembers.
"Come, my angel," his angel says and pulls him slightly forward, "I want to show you something."
"Show me what?" Blaine knows this script.
"You will see," he laughs.
They walk up to the shadow of the tree, before they stop.
"Do you see anything?" his angel asks, the nervousness that is clear in his eyes sips into his voice.
Blaine surveys the bark of the tree for the names he knows have been carved in there. When he sees them in their usual place the emotions from the day sweep over him.
"Kurt…" he breathes, and he feels the familiar prickle of tears in his eyes.
"I do not wish to hide it. I want to shout it from the highest cloud, but I thought this a more appropriate gesture."
Blaine wants to tell him, that no, they should be more careful, that Father will not be happy to hear of their growing love. That it has grown too big, that they are too important to each other now. But it is a waste of breath and he knows that. Instead he takes a step towards Kurt and brings him into his arms.
They stay like that for a while, close together watching their names etched into the oldest tree on earth.
"I miss you so much…" Blaine whispers, but it falls to deaf ears.
"Blaine…?" Kurt says and looks down on him.
"Yes."
"I do not ever want to be apart from you. I think it would actually kill me."
A lump forms in Blaine's throat and his body tenses. He swallows hard and chokes out, "I will love you forever, my dearest angel. No matter where you or I go."
"No, silly," Kurt laughs, and Blaine is again reminded that his angel will not hear what he says, only what he once said, when they were actually here. He knows it, but it breaks his heart a little, nonetheless.
The air shifts and he's back in the small apartment he refuses to call home. The night has rolled in, bringing with it strong winds and a heavy rain. Blaine can't tell if it's still the same night he observed the beginning to or if he was caught in the memory for longer. Either way, fresh tears are staining his cheeks.
A/N: Okay, so I know there's not nearly enough Kurt in this story so far… but don't worry, he'll be there soon. And I swear, things will start happening soon… like, really soon. Promise.
Please let me know what you think – thank you DeppleICk, Totallystarstruck and AnnielovesKlaine for your lovely reviews! – remember, reviews are cookies! …and I love cookies :D
xx