Prompt: Elizabeth/Carter - "He died this morning, 6:04am, the sun was rising, his favourite time of day. I sent this on so you might know he was thinking of you all, and that he appreciated knowing you would remember him well." -'ER'
Finn looked around the choir room. Every sad face that looked back at him was familiar. Some he had gone to school with and others he had taught. The one thing they all had in common was that their lives had been touched by William Schuester and they were all better people for it.
Though he knew everyone in the room had already heard the news, it didn't make addressing them any easier. Like their own, his heart was broken. Looking for strength, he looked to the center of the room. There, gathered in the back few rows was every member of the group that had one that first National Championship for Mr. Schue so many years ago. Like they had promised when Mr. Schue had first told him about his diagnosis, they had all come back to Lima.
Taking a deep breath, Finn let it out slowly before he began to speak. "As you all know, Mr. Schue passed away yesterday morning. I talked to Emma shortly after and she told me that he passed away peacefully, shortly after seeing the sun rise and that he was thinking of all of us. He told her that the sun rising in the morning always reminded him of all of us, because he got to teach us when we were just beginning to rise to our potential."
Finn paused as he tried to get a hold of his emotions. He saw several people reach up and wipe some tears away.
"A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Schue sent me this dvd with the instructions to play it for everybody after his death. This is his way of saying good-bye to all of us."
After pressing play on the remote, Finn made his way up the risers to join those he had performed with, taking the empty seat between Kurt and Quin that his stepbrother had saved for him.
"Hey, New Directions," Mr. Schue said on the tv screen. Despite his pale features he still wore the same smile they all remembered. "If you're watching this, it means that I've passed away and I want you all to know how much your love and devotion to the music and to the group has meant to me over the years. Each and everyone of you were special to me in some way and I hope that I was able to be a positive influence to all of you over the years. From a struggling group of five outcasts to a group that is a contender for Nationals every year is an accomplishment that I'm proud of and one that you all made possible. It sure has been a journey and as my final good-bye I've put together a video of the memories set to a medley of, you guessed it, Journey songs."
Soft laughter filled the room as Mr. Schue disappeared and the music started, a picture of Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie and Rachel from tenth grade appearing on the screen.