"Are you nervous?" Blaine Anderson-Hummel asked his husband, who was driving their sparkling cerise car down a long road.
Kurt turned and smiled. "I'm terrified, honey." He shrugged and gave a smiling eye-roll. "I have to present my stuff in front of thousands of people. But I know it'll be okay with you there in the wings."
Blaine smiled fondly and said, "Eyes on the road, love!"
Kurt tore his gaze from Blaine and focused on the horizon. He and Blaine were going to New York City to promote Kurt's clothing brand, Channeling Courage. It wasn't a hit yet, but he was assured that they would be.
They had come a long way since that fateful day in the food court. Blaine had gotten his life straightened out, and the Icicle family eventually found Mitch in California. Mitch had been disgruntled, but he returned home. He looked nothing like Blaine.
Blaine had needed help recovering all of his memories. He rediscovered most of the Broadway musicals, hair gel, and the guitar.
He never forgot Kurt. Every second that they had spent together before the accident remained in his head. He was surprised that Kurt was doing so well after the Sebastian incident. Burt had assured him that Kurt had been a wreck, but Blaine had seen none of that.
Kurt's crippling depression had melted like an ice cube in the sun. He'd even patched things up with Nick and Jeff and the rest of their crowd. He didn't understand why he felt their presence comforting, but he did. He did not forget how they had stepped in when it mattered. Unlike Trent.
He had graduated from NYADA, and Blaine had gone to the University of Michigan. It had been hard, going to separate collages, but after Kurt got his degree, he waited around for Blaine. He didn't mind, and Blaine didn't either. Their love could withstand anything.
They had gotten married in the most chic ceremony of the century. The two had just been in Lima to visit Burt and Carole.
Kurt was healing. Blaine was, too. He'd been heartbroken for the Icicle family. Kurt still woke up crying; the only difference was that now there was a body next to him to comfort him.
He was in Sebastian's bedroom. Scary Canary had inflated so that it looked like a giant balloon. It expanded until the black, coarse fur pressed against his face, smothering him. His lungs contracted, and Kurt tried to scream, but he had no breath. Sebastian's haunting laugher echoed around the room, and suddenly his entire body was aflame. Blaine lay dead on the floor.
"Kurt!" His voice was firm and soft at the same time.
Kurt opened his eyes. The room was dark, but Scary Canary wasn't anywhere. Tears were trickling down his face and he had a mouthful of pillow.
"Kurt." a gentle voice whispered in his ear. Warm hands on his back gave him comfort.
"Did I wake you up?" Kurt whispered shakily. "I'm so sorry."
"Nothing will hurt you now." Blaine's hot breath on Kurt neck eased him back to sleep. "You're safe. Sleep, my love."
Now all of that was over. Blaine was a Broadway star, and Kurt was a rising clothing designer. They were off to promote Kurt's new line in the Big Apple, which could make him a household name. All of the proceeds would go towards finding kidnap victims and bringing them home.
He sighed with content and rolled the windows down. Warm air drifted into the car, and Kurt slowed down the automobile, feeling the breeze's light touch tickle his rosy cheeks.
"Um, Kurt...?" Blaine sounded odd. "Why did you stop here?"
Kurt looked around. He was parked in front of the Lima Cemetery.
"I don't know." Kurt said automatically, and his eyes drifted instantly to a certain headstone.
"Do you want to rest for a minute?" Blaine knew what Kurt was looking at, and he rested his head on Kurt's shoulder.
Kurt sighed heavily. "Can we go and look at it?" he asked, detriment marring his porcelain features.
Blaine nodded gently, and the two of them exited the car and stepped into the graveyard.
Kurt walked slowly to the tombstone that had caught his eye. He'd seen it before, after Blaine had come back from Dublin. It had been almost ten years since the stone had been propped up in the dirt, and it was crumbling.
He read the words engraved on it with a slight shudder.
Sebastian Smythe
1995-2012
With death comes serenity for all.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and reached up to hold it, caressing Blaine's fingers. Together they stared at the grave. His vision blurred. Kurt didn't know if he was sorry that Sebastian was dead. He didn't understand his feelings at all. Sebastian was insane. He'd broken Kurt and enjoyed doing it. Yet he was the one buried underground, and Kurt was the one looking down on it.
I pity you, Kurt told the headstone. You didn't know how to handle rejection and look where it got you.
The grave next to Sebastian's read,
Trent Wilcox
1995-2012
Always helpful.
Kurt remembered the last moments of Trent's life. It felt like it had taken place so long ago, the first kidnapping. Trent hadn't wanted to hurt him, but he was too afraid to help him. Kurt never wanted to see him again.
His eyes drifted unwillingly to the headstone about a row away.
Quinn Fabray
1994-2012
For whoever believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
"Quinn." Kurt whispered.
"Kurt, don't cry!" Blaine exclaimed, and wiped the lone tear off of Kurt's face. "You don't want the cameras to see your bloodshot eyes." He leaned in and examined Kurt intensely. "Kurt, if this upsets you, we should leave."
Kurt shook his head and gave a palpable smile. "I've moved on, Blaine. I can't hold a grudge. You know that."
He turned away from the grave and started guiding Blaine back to the car. "What happened to me was awful, Blaine. I've accepted that. I still have my nightmares. I'm still a little traumatized. Sebastian hurt me, Blaine. He broke me. But it's been years. I'm healing. It's time to let go." Kurt gently pushed Blaine into the passenger seat and walked around to his own seat.
"Kurt, what would you do if something happened to me?" Blaine shivered at the thought. He had been told that Kurt had pulled a Bella and sank into a crippling depression, crying on and off every day and wallowing in his bedroom. He couldn't let that happen again.
He thought about what would happen if he lost Kurt. With a twinge, Blaine remembered that he almost had.
"We don't have to worry about that, do we?" Kurt replied demurely. "Isn't true love forever?"
"True love is forever." Blaine agreed. "But –" He put the question out of his mind. Why worry about that today? Today they had each other and that was enough.
With one final kiss, which admittedly lasted for several minutes, Kurt started up the ignition and drove away from the burial ground, out of town, and into his future.
Kurt smiled faintly as Lima whizzed by, just a blur outside of the window. Goodbye, he mouthed, knowing that as soon as his fashion line took off, he might never return.
It didn't matter. Kurt put one hand on the steering wheel, and the other on Blaine. He was complete.
"Thank you, Sebastian." Kurt whispered so that Blaine wouldn't hear. "After all, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger."
He took a deep, relaxed breath as Lima grew smaller in the rear view mirror. He let go of what had happened to him. Those starving days in the Dalton basement, the confrontation in the choir room, the months of depression that followed it. He could forget it all now. He felt his emotional scar fade until it was barely a dent in his heart. He could leave it all behind.
He would never be broken again.
A/N: All done! I've never done anything like this before! Like ever, seriously. Thank you for reading all of this!
So I assume you read my A/N last chapter where I said my new story ideas. I probably won't publish them for a few weeks because I want to get way ahead before I publish anything. but check on me every once in awhile, because I'm sure there will be something new up.
I shall miss you dear readers. If I never hear from you again, enjoy the rest of season 3 and 4. Cross your fingers for Evil!Sebastian, which is so much better than NiceAndBoring!Sebastian.
Farewell,
Me