A/N: Warning for tense situations and violence. (Nothing gruesome)

Sebastian opened his eyes to the soothing sensation of the sun gently warming his face, and the smell of the newly cut grass around him. The blue sky overhead reminded him of something beautiful…something amazing…something he longed to touch and wrap around himself like a blanket, to snuggle into and breathe in. He could hear the birds singing overhead - a high-pitched, musical warble that woke him from the most delicious nap of his life.

Sebastian stretched his limbs slowly, expecting them to ache and burn for some reason, but they didn't. He felt he could run and dance, maybe even do a cartwheel. He giggled at the image in his head of himself trying to pull off a full cartwheel, and more than likely landing on his ass.

He stood and lifted his arms above his head, yawning, relaxed, the warmth surrounding him trying to pull him down to the grass and lure him back to sleep. He contemplated another nap, smiling at the bed of soft green beneath his feet, but the sky above him called his eyes to it, the alluring blue almost speaking to him. Unobscured by clouds, it beckoned him to search for something…or someone.

It seemed to tell him that there was a person here he needed to find.

Sebastian turned slowly in place, eyes sweeping over the expanse of the garden appreciatively, admiring how tall the flowers had grown since the start of spring. The orange gerberas and the blood red dahlias, the rows and rows of multi-colored roses with their straight stems and thick thorns, and peonies as far as the eye could see. Beyond the flowers, Sebastian could see rows and rows of vegetables. Vines sprouting melons in every conceivable shade of green and yellow twined along the ground, leading him down a path lined with sinister-looking spicy peppers. Vibrant, almost cartoonishly colored tomatoes grew in straight, carefully tended rows, and amid the rows Sebastian could hear a beautiful voice humming.

This voice he knew. This voice touched him, vibrated his blood, called to his heart. It sent a surge of longing through him. He felt it cover him like his own skin. Sebastian peeked over the plants and the vines until he caught a glimpse of a pale face tilted toward the sun, plump lips smiling, expression melting from one of tension to serenity and peace.

Sebastian realized what he had been looking for.

Home…home wrapped up in blue eyes and perfect skin.

Kurt…Kurt was home.

Sebastian tried to find a bend in the path that led to Kurt, but he couldn't. He attempted to pick his way delicately through the peppers and the roses, but the thorns menaced him, and everywhere he tried to step, a new pepper plant stood in his way.

Sebastian was frustrated and confused, stuck and stayed by a barrier that should be simple for him to get by, but which blocked him at every turn. Sebastian tried to call to Kurt, opened his mouth to yell his name, but every attempt was ripped away, the words carried off by a passing breeze, or a sudden influx of bees swarming in the flowers.

Sebastian wanted to cry. Why was Kurt so difficult to get to? He decided to take a chance and leap over the plants, but he found his body wouldn't move, wouldn't even try to move anymore. He felt thick vines wrapping around him, squeezing him tight.

Clouds closed in overhead, blocking out the sun, covering the blue. Kurt looked away, his eyes filled with sorrow and fear. Sebastian tugged at the vines, but the more he pulled, the tighter they squeezed. His mind fought against panic to stay calm, to keep his mind clear. He watched Kurt get up and shield his face from the oncoming storm. Kurt glanced around the garden, taking in the plants and vines, as if he were searching for something among the abundant rows of green growth, too. Sebastian thought their eyes would surely meet, that Kurt would see his body wrapped in vines, and run to him, but Kurt's blue eyes just missed his. The rain began to fall, sheets of it pounding down on Sebastian, bending the stems and the leaves of the plants, and forcing Kurt away. Kurt ran off into the distance, in the opposite direction of where Sebastian was held captive. Sebastian looked ahead and saw to his horror a bigger yellow house than Kurt's cozy townhouse, with a bigger iron fence. This one had bars on the windows, and a large iron door.

The door stood open, waiting for Kurt's return, and standing in the threshold stood a smirking Chandler, not skeletal or ghoulish like Sebastian remembered – but alive and strong, with the same glower of evil in his eyes.

"Kurt!" the grating voice called angrily as Kurt scurried into the house. "For the love of God, Kurt!"

Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see Kurt cowering into the house, or the intense look of triumph trained at Sebastian.

"Kurt!" the high-pitched voice continued to yell. "Kurt!"

Sebastian blinked once and the storm disappeared.

He blinked twice, and the clouds cleared.

He blinked a third time, and the blue sky returned…in the form of Kurt's startling azure eyes – eyes wild with distress and agitation.

Sebastian tried to give Kurt a small, lopsided smile.

"Is this a dream?" Sebastian whispered, his voice barely a sound as his throat tried to work again. "Or am I in heaven?"

Kurt laughed through the tears staining his cheeks, wrapping his arms tighter around Sebastian's bound body.

Kurt's sole concern, his focus, was making his way to Sebastian. He propelled himself forward across the room, digging his nails into the floor, and using his uninjured foot to lurch along.

Kurt saw the Taser, poised dangerously close to Sebastian's neck.

"Well, well, well," Kurt heard Chandler say as he leaned low and locked eyes with Sebastian's vacant stare, "you want to play games with me? Let's play some games."

"No!" Kurt screamed, using the last burst of energy he had within him to throw his body fully over Sebastian, winding his arms around him, threading his leg between his, and tugging him close.

"Kurt!" Chandler screamed in frustration "For the love of God, Kurt!"

Kurt didn't respond, just wrapped himself impossibly tight around Sebastian's body, trying to merge the two of them together. If he could only give Sebastian strength, or if he could take a bit of Sebastian's fearlessness, then they could so this…they could win.

For now, all he had was his body, and maybe he could use it to keep Chandler from torturing Sebastian any further.

"Kurt!" Chandler chided, talking the way a parent would to a disobedient child. "Kurt!" Chandler tried to pull Kurt from Sebastian's body, but Kurt latched on tight and wouldn't move.

Kurt felt Sebastian struggle a little in his grip, heard him groan quietly. His eyelids fluttered as they fought to open. Kurt saw the pain that came with the movement, the way Sebastian's brow knit together, and even more devastating, the lightning strike pattern that disfigured the whites of his eyes, pupils fixed and dilated. Kurt whimpered at the broken look in their ocean green depths.

"No," he gasped. Sebastian blinked, concentrating on Kurt's heartbroken expression. Sebastian tried to smile - unbeatable, beautiful Sebastian, fighting so hard to bring Kurt back, to give him peace in the face of his own pain.

"Is this a dream? Or am I in heaven?" Sebastian's breath ghosted lightly over Kurt's skin, still so warm, so alive. It brought back a little of Kurt's faith.

"Oh, Sebastian," Kurt moaned, pulling Sebastian's face against his shoulder, shielding him from whatever Chandler had planned next.

"Oh, give me a break," Chandler whined, putting a hand to his aching head where Sebastian had pounded it against the ground. "I think my brain's bleeding, and all you care about is that…that…"

"His name's Sebastian," Kurt growled, tapping into a tiny well of defiance he didn't even know still existed within him, "and I love him."

Kurt made himself straighter, stronger with Sebastian in his grasp.

"I'm never going to be with you, Chandler," Kurt continued, choosing to stand up to Chandler in the face of possible death instead of taking the coward's way out, negotiating away and denying the one thing he had in his life that was worth throwing everything away for. "I love him, and I'm not leaving this house without him."

Chandler crouched down low, pushing in close to Kurt's face.

"But will he feel the same way, Kurt, when he finds out everything Dave did to you?"

Kurt felt his lip quivering.

"He knows what Dave did to me," Kurt replied. "And he doesn't care."

"Maybe not about the abuse and the scars that Dave left, but what about the others, Kurt? The times you said you thought Dave drugged you, and passed you around to his friends. Those dinner parties that ended with you as dessert?"

Kurt swallowed hard. More secrets, but these secrets Kurt had never intended to tell. He honestly wasn't even sure they were real memories. He thought maybe they were hate fantasies, a way for his mind to find some other reason to despise Dave enough to push him into running away, not that he really needed any.

"Oh, it was true," Chandler nodded, affirming Kurt's worst fears as if he could read his mind. "Everything you thought happened. And you know how I know?"

Kurt shook his head just slightly, unaware of the motion as he made it.

"Adam told me," Chandler admitted.

Kurt hadn't blinked his eyes once, and he felt them starting to sting, but he didn't dare move as Chandler spoke.

"Oh my God, Kurt!" Chandler sat on the floor, crossing his legs as if they were having a friendly afternoon of gossip over coffee. "Adam was so in love with you. Puppy dog eyes and bow ties and everything you ever dreamed of having with that loser Blaine." Chandler leaned in close until their noses touched. "He could have given it all to you, Kurt."

Kurt tried to pull back, grab Sebastian and move as far away from Chandler as he could, but there was no place in the tiny living room to go. He felt Sebastian slowly roll his shoulders, testing out his limbs with tiny movements, but he didn't let on.

"Anyway," Chandler continued, rolling his eyes, "he sought Dave out, got invited to one of those parties, and watched Dave drug you, watched him undress you and put you to bed, and then all of Dave's friends lined up like kids going on a carnival ride."

Kurt felt tears sting his eyes. He'd always suspected, but he never knew for sure. He had had nightmares before which felt so real he thought they had to be flashbacks.

"If that's true…" Kurt forced out through trembling lips, "why didn't he…"

"Do anything about it?" Chandler looked positively giddy, aching head forgotten as he bounced up and down, rolling on his hips. "That's the worst part, Kurt. He was going to. He confronted Dave and everything. Threatened to call the police then…and…there…" Chandler punctuated his words, stabbing the floor after each one with the Taser. Kurt cringed when he saw it close up, looking like a big, bulky gun, and the prongs on the front which delivered the electrical shocks. Kurt swallowed hard, eyes darting back and forth, wondering what became of the gun.

"But Dave gave him an offer Adam just couldn't refuse."

Kurt wanted to ask 'what'. His mouth formed the word, but no sound came out.

"You," Chandler revealed. "For the rest of that evening. And he took it. Adam knew you didn't love him, knew you never would. So he took Dave up on it. He spent the night with you, and never spoke about it again."

"If he never spoke about it…"

Chandler rolled his eyes again, tired that Kurt seemed so dense.

"Well, eventually he did," Chandler said shrugging. "I found his Facebook page. He had an unsecure account. I mean, everyone in the universe could read his status updates and look at his pictures. He talked about you all the time. He called you his 'blue eyed prince'." Chandler gestured dramatically as he spoke.

That's when Kurt knew Chandler was telling the truth. Adam called Kurt his 'blue eyed prince' whenever they were alone together. Chandler didn't go to NYADA, and as far as Kurt knew, Chandler and Adam had never met. Chandler could have only learned about the nickname if Adam had told him.

Kurt hated Adam in that moment. Every fond thought or memory he ever had for the man evaporated into vapor. Suddenly, an evil thought crossed Kurt's mind, and he couldn't even bring himself to feel sorry for it. He was glad Adam was dead.

"You know, it's because of Adam that I was able to find you."

Kurt found it harder and harder to hold on. His arms cramped, and he shifted his grip, but he was unwilling to loosen his hold on Sebastian, even if every muscle in his body tore from his bones.

"Yeah," Chandler said brightly. "He said that he had a lead as to where you were, and that he was going to come out here, apologize for everything, lay it all out on the line, and ask you to be his."

Chandler chuckled as if the very idea struck him as astoundingly stupid.

"So, I befriended him and followed him. Told him I was an old friend of yours, and would vouch for him, blah, blah, blah… Of course I knew it was never going to happen. I mean, once you found out that I killed Dave…"

Kurt's eyes went wide in response. He shuddered at how casually Chandler could admit to such a thing.

"Yeah," Chandler responded contemplatively, gesturing to Kurt nonchalantly with the Taser. "I'm surprised you never caught on to that, seeing as how I staged the whole thing to look like your mom's death and all. It was a message. I thought for sure you would figure it out because we were always so in sync."

Chandler sighed, exhausted from grappling with Sebastian and dizzy from what he didn't realize was a more serious wound to the head than he knew.

"So, Adam and I came out here to find you. We went to that stupid bar and waited."

Chandler looked at Sebastian, lying momentarily still in Kurt's arms.

"Actually, I owe your little friend here a debt of gratitude. Without Prince Valiant here keeping guard at the door, I never would have found you. I was so ready to leave, and there you were, racing out the back, right past me." Chandler smiled condescendingly. "I forgive you for not seeing me, by the way."

Kurt shook his head, the lump in his throat growing so immense he wasn't sure how he was even able to breathe.

"So…" Kurt stuttered. "You killed Dave."

"Yup," Chandler said simply. "And Adam."

Kurt jumped.

"Wait…" Kurt shook his head. "Why Adam?"

"For what he did to you," Chandler said simply. "I had to go after all of them, Kurt. Every single one."

Kurt's jaw dropped, wondering how many men Chandler had killed on his behalf. Maybe Kurt didn't have to feel guilty that they were punished for what they did to him, but he didn't want all of that blood on his hands. And what if Chandler had been wrong? What if he had gone after and killed innocent men? Chandler didn't seem like the kind of person to be too discerning.

Chandler blew out a frustrated breath. He opened his arms wide, tilting his head sympathetically.

"Last chance offer, Kurt," he said. "We eighty-six the boyfriend here, we hit the last two people on my list…and then you'll be free."

The word 'free' didn't sit well with Kurt. It stung his tongue, felt bitter and acidic the more he tried to isolate Chandler's definition of it.

"Which two people?" Kurt asked.

Chandler smiled his widest, most morbid smile yet.

"Why, Blaine and Eli, of course."

Kurt felt Sebastian trying to move, but Kurt squeezed him tight, silently begging him to stay still. Kurt's eyes shot around the room.

The door hung open. Maybe he could scream for help.

Nope.

Stupid.

Next.

Chandler stared at him expectantly, then suddenly swayed on his knees, blinking his eyes against a wave of nausea. Kurt scooted a bit backward, still trying to find a way out. His arm landed on something hard, his elbow crunching against it, and he winced. Kurt stopped. He didn't have to move any farther to know what his arm had happened upon.

The gun…right behind him, shielded from Chandler's view.

Kurt could hear what sounded like a dozen cars and sirens off in the distance, nowhere near them yet, but getting louder and closer. Kurt hoped and prayed that they were heading for his house. He relaxed a bit, blowing out a premature sigh of relief.

Chandler's blood shot eyes snapped open, filled with rage. He huffed as he stood. Hearing the sounds of the oncoming sirens, he crossed to the open door and shut it. It took multiple tries to get the antique door, now hanging lamely in its cracked frame, to shut completely, and only the lock on the knob would slide into place. Kurt quickly took an arm off of Sebastian, both men shifting and flexing cramped and stiff muscles. Kurt reached beneath and behind himself for the gun, slipping it silently under his shirt while Chandler fiddled with the door.

Chandler stomped back to the two men on the floor, seemingly unaware that either had moved. He aimed the Taser for Sebastian's eyes.

"I'm done with this," Chandler said finally. "You leave here with me. He leaves here in a bag. End of story."

Kurt sprang into motion, lashing out and knocking the Taser from Chandler's hand. Chandler fumbled for the weapon, which bounced on the floor, and spun out of reach. Kurt struggled against stiff limbs and screaming muscles, straddling Sebastian's body protectively, and pulling out the hidden gun. The spin of his torso and the flail of his arms pulled at his muscles in opposite directions, causing him to pull something in his already injured shoulder, but adrenaline was just the thing he needed to keep the pain at bay, and he had plenty of it.

Chandler looked concerned for a second, and then amused. When he actually started laughing, Kurt lost it.

"Shut up!" Kurt screeched. "Shut your fucking mouth!"

Chandler and Kurt both heard a multitude of cars pull up to the curb. Chandler looked up at the window and then back at Kurt, eager to be out of the house, but he had no intention of admitting defeat. He came here for Kurt, and he was leaving with Kurt, one way or the other.

"How are you going to protect lover boy here, huh?" Chandler sneered. "You couldn't even protect yourself, remember? So much abuse and you didn't tell anyone. Hell, Dave had a gun just like that one in a box with no lock and key, and you wouldn't even think of shooting him in his sleep. And do you know why, Kurt?"

The gun shook in Kurt's hand, his silence Chandler's only answer.

"Because you're weak, Kurt. That's why. You're weak. You do whatever you're told. You can't think for yourself. You need someone to control you. That's how you live. So do what you're told and come with me…now!"

Kurt heard car doors closing and people milling outside. Kurt imagined neighbors coming out of houses while yellow caution tape was set up and officers told people to return to their homes. He could hear the crackle of radios and words like "possible armed gun man", "multiple reports of", and "one maybe two hostages".

He had to hold out, just for a few moments longer, and then the police would be breaking down his door to save them. Just a moment. Just a little longer.

They were so close.

But Kurt knew Chandler wasn't going to wait for that moment.

Kurt saw the intent in Chandler's eyes as they zeroed in on the gun. He knew Chandler would make a grab for it, knew that if he got it, Sebastian would be dead. Chandler would kill him, right here in cold blood, and that would be it.

Chandler was going to take Sebastian away from him. Kurt said the words to himself in his head, let them ring around his mind, bouncing around like some annoying ball he wanted to snatch out of the air and crush in his hand.

Chandler was going to take Sebastian away.

Chandler, the sniveling wretch, this unexpectedly evil coward, was going to take Kurt's one and only true love away from him.

With those words growing louder in his brain, like a thorny vine weaving through the soft folds of his sanity, something inside Kurt snapped.

All his life, people were taking things away from him. A drunk driver took away his mother. Bullies took away his pride and dignity by shoving him into dumpsters and lockers. Blaine took possession of all his firsts. Dave took away his freedom, his self-worth, and his ability to trust people. Chandler took away his sense of security, and almost took away his happy home.

Sebastian was one of the few people in his life who didn't take. He just gave.

Sebastian gave Kurt his love, his devotion, his body, and his ability to start believing in the good in people again.

Chandler didn't realize that Kurt had considered killing Dave. Every night for almost a year Kurt took that gun out of its box, loaded it, took the safety off, and pointed it to the temple of Dave's sleeping head, but he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

Because Kurt wasn't evil.

He wasn't a killer.

He didn't see that as a way out.

Kurt regretted every day that he didn't protect himself all those years ago, but he was going to be damned to hell if he didn't protect the man that he loved now.

Chandler moved quickly, grabbing for the gun. Kurt saw Chandler's arm reach out, the twisted sneer on his lips, the desperation in his eyes, and incredibly an immense calm overtook him.

The first shot was the hardest. Even with every fiber of his being screaming to make Chandler pay, the decision to take a life and actually doing it were two very different and magnanimous things. A line would be crossed with the pull of that trigger, the squeeze of his hand, and once he did, he could never cross back.

The sound of the gun firing was like an explosion in the tiny house. Kurt could hear Sebastian screaming his name, heard the officers outside scrambling like ants, shouting orders and making threats, but the voices didn't register, the words made no sense.

The bullet hit Chandler in the shoulder, and the man doubled over. When his eyes looked back up at Kurt, dumbfounded, mouth twisted in rage, Kurt knew this was the only option - he couldn't let Chandler live.

Not all of the shots Kurt fired were meant for Chandler; Chandler just took them. The next shot was for Dave. Then a shot for Blaine, ruining the happily ever after he had always dreamed of having. Another for the years he had missed out on, the father he hadn't seen in three years, and Finn's funeral, which he never got the chance to attend.

A shot for Adam – fucking Adam – who had promised so much, and delivered so little.

And oddly enough, a shot for himself – for believing the lies, for doubting his own self-worth, for folding up and giving in when he should have found the strength to fight, for waiting for someone else to rescue him when he needed the power to rescue himself.

Kurt pulled the trigger over and over. No force in the world could have stilled his hand. The bullets entered Chandler's body easily, like tearing through tissue paper. Even after Chandler stopped breathing and lay still, even after Kurt had emptied the clip and the gun simply made a dull clicking sound when Kurt pulled the trigger, he continued to fire.

There were no tears from Kurt.

Chandler didn't deserve any.

"Kurt!" Sebastian cried, his arms covering his face. "Kurt, it's over now, baby. Stop firing. Please, Kurt."

Once the gun fire had stopped, officers broke through the door and swarmed the house.

"Put the gun down now!" an officer yelled, training his weapon on Kurt.

Kurt moved slowly, putting the gun on the floor and then raising his hands in the air, head hanging low.

"No!" Sebastian screamed, squirming to face the arresting officer, watching him snap cuffs on Kurt's wrists. Two other officers pulled Kurt up by the arms, carrying him away from Sebastian.

"No! No, you've got the wrong man!" Sebastian continued to scream. Cops roamed everywhere. They walked throughout the kitchen and dining room. They tromped upstairs. Sebastian heard the slamming of doors as they checked rooms. They unlocked the back door and performed a perimeter sweep of the yard. They cleared the house for EMT workers, who brought in a gurney for himself…and a body bag for Chandler.

"You have the right to remain silent…" the officer recited. Kurt didn't resist. He allowed himself to be led away and Sebastian continued to call after them.

"He invokes his rights!" Sebastian screamed as the EMT's surrounded him, trying to take his vitals and look him over. "He has a lawyer. Kurt! Kurt! Don't say a thing until your lawyer gets there, Kurt! I'll be there soon, Kurt! I love you. Don't say a word, gorgeous!"

Sebastian tried to push the medical team off of him.

"I don't need medical attention!" he growled. "I need to be with my boyfriend! I need to be with Kurt!"

"Look at his eyes," one worker almost gasped, noticing the jagged patterns from the multiple electric shots.

"Please!" Frustration caused tears to well in his eyes as he heard a car door close, most likely with Kurt inside. "Please! I need to get to my boyfriend!"

A younger woman leaned into his ear and whispered quietly, "Let us finish our job, and we'll let you go." Sebastian turned to the smiling woman's face. "I promise. We'll get you to your boyfriend."

Sebastian sighed but he couldn't stop the tears – tears of anger, of frustration, of fear. He submitted to the examination reluctantly, hands balled into fists at his side, aware of every second that ticked away, and Kurt slipping further and further from his grasp.