Tina was waiting for them at the back door by the time they returned to her house. "Be real quiet. My parents have hearing like you wouldn't believe," she hissed. "I've lost track of how many times they've intercepted Mike. Hurry!"

Only when they were safely closed up in her bedroom did her voice return to normal volume. "Did you find the tokens?"

Dave nodded, patting his pocket. "What about you? Do you know what we have to do to get me back into reality?"

"I think so. I still need a few more obscure ingredients."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Where? Isn't it getting kind of late to do any more shopping?"

"Oh, I already got the stuff you can buy in stores. The rest I have to actually gather."

"In nature?" Dave asked skeptically.

Tina rolled her eyes. "No, at the local Witch-Mart. Yes, in nature! Fresh components are the most potent in magical power anyway."

Dave stared for a moment; Blaine caught himself actually doing the same before shaking himself out of it. "I'll take your word for it," he said.

"We'll both have to hurry," Tina continued. "I'm getting a little worried about how long Dave's hold on reality can last."

Both boys shifted nervously. "You think... I might disappear? Like for real?" Dave asked tentatively.

Tina shook her head slowly. "I'm not sure. But Blaine and those tokens are the only tether to existence you have right now. That's really fragile, and the spell is probably still going. And don't forget the magician; he — or she — is probably still working against you right now. If he manages to break any of the bonds..."

Blaine swallowed; Dave paled. "I... get the picture," Dave said. "So what should we do?"

"Find that last token," Tina said firmly. "That's the best way you can help." She began to rise from her chair. "I should probably get moving. It'll take a while to find the right kind of thistle in the dark. I just wanted to make sure you guys were still okay, and—" She stopped, blinking. She looked down to see Dave's hand on her arm. She sank back down.

"I need to tell you something first."

Tina cocked her head in curiosity; Blaine stared in confusion.

Dave took an audible breath and continued. "I... need to tell you who I am... was. You should know what kind of guy you're risking your life for."

Blaine's jaw dropped. "Dave..."

"No, I have to do this." He turned back to Tina with an intense, serious set on his face. "She deserves the truth."

And he told her. He actually told her everything — the shoves, the taunts, driving Kurt from McKinley, his suicide attempt — even stuff Blaine didn't know about, even the big why: his sexuality. Actually, not everything — he skipped the kiss. But Blaine got the distinct impression that was more for Kurt's sake than his own, which brought up all sorts of conflicting thoughts.

Tina sat listening quietly until Dave was finally done. His broad shoulders were slumped, as if he were drained; Blaine was feeling a little peaked himself, and he hadn't even said a word. Finally, Tina turned to him. "Is this true?"

Blaine nodded. "Yes."

"And you're still helping him?" He nodded again. "Why?"

That was a very good question. "It's... the right thing to do." He winced at the falseness and hollowness of his words, but what else could he say? That he was so far drawn into this madness that he had to either sink or swim? That he wanted to turn his back on Dave, on everything, if only for his own sanity, but knew that said sanity would be in question and attacked even if he did? That he still wasn't 100% sure that Dave even deserved to exist?

On the other hand, the fact that Kurt apparently still had to leave McKinley even without Dave threw that last bit into a little question — at least more than existed before. Maybe Kurt was having an effect on him; he was certainly starting to believe that Dave really wasn't the guy he thought he was. Would that guy have even thought of telling Tina, someone whose help he needed to stay existent, any of what he'd done to her, to her friends?

Tina's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "That was very..."

"Stupid?" Dave asked with a wry half-grin.

"... Brave."

Dave reddened, turning half away from her. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

"No, I mean it. You probably could've gotten through this without ever telling me the truth. It doesn't look like Blaine would've said anything if you hadn't." Blaine was actually startled to realize that this was true. "That goes a long way to make me believe that you really have changed." She paused in thought for a moment. "Besides, I don't know Dave the bully. I just know you. If you say you're not really him... I don't have any reason not to believe you yet."

Dave swallowed, his eyes still downcast, but his face was red. Of all the frankly unbelievable things Blaine had seen and experienced in the past twelve hours, this had almost no supernatural element to it, but it was still one of the most shocking to his sense of the world.

"I mean, I don't like what you say you did to us, but you seem like you're at least trying to make it right."

"That's just because you don't remember experiencing any of it," Dave said quietly, exactly reflecting what Blaine was thinking.

Tina shrugged. "Maybe that makes me more objective. I don't know. But you need my help right now, and I can't see any reason to turn you down." She smiled a little. "Besides, I've never gotten to practice real magic before. It's kind of fun." The smile slipped away. "Wait, you said 'risk my life'...?"

Blaine and Dave glanced at each other. Tentatively, the two told her about their run-in with Puck. By the time they finished, Tina was pale — more so than usual.

"Mind control... The magician's a lot more powerful than I thought. And a lot more corrupt."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked.

"Mind control is a real no-no in magic. Anything that takes away free will is considered the worst thing you can do to someone without actually physically harming them. If the magician is using it to attack us, he's working with some seriously dark power here. Whoever he is, he's either completely evil or completely insane."

A shudder jolted its way through Blaine's spine; he glanced over at Dave, who looked even whiter than Tina. Blaine's hand unconsciously went to his chest. "Then those charms you gave us...?"

"Are probably the only thing keeping you from calling up the magician or killing us both. Don't worry, though; mind control is a pretty concentration-heavy spell. He won't be able to zap more than one person, and not for very long."

"You're telling us now not to worry?!" Dave asked in disbelief. He glanced at the bedroom door. "What about...?"

"Give me some credit," Tina said smugly. "I've already hidden charms all over this house."

"Nice," Dave said in frank and plainly startled admiration. Blaine didn't say that he felt vaguely the same. In a group with people like Rachel and Kurt, Tina tended to fade into the background just from the sheer force of the more outsized personalities. But when she was alone, when she was in her element... It was an eye-opener, one of many he'd experienced in just the past half day.

Tina rose. "We should all get moving," she said in a firm, no-nonsense tone. "I've got your numbers, and we'll keep in touch."

"So what do we do once we have the tokens and you have your materials?" Blaine asked.

"I've been working on finding the magician's location. It's his focus of power; we'll need to be there if we're going to have a chance of undoing his spell."

"You mean... confront him?" Blaine wouldn't have thought that Dave would ever look reluctant to go up against someone else... But then, this was hardly a normal person they were dealing with. The thought filled him with trepidation as well.

Tina shrugged. "We'll have to do it eventually anyway. If we leave him alone, he can just do this all over again — and do it right. I've prepared some countermagic, but..." She slung her backpack over her shoulder. "We'll deal with that when we're ready. Right now, we're nowhere near ready. You guys find that last token." She cracked open her bedroom door and peered out. "Feel free to stay until you've figured out where it is. Just don't make any noise. If my parents catch you, tell them you forgot something the last time you were here, and that I... I dunno, went out. If it's my dad, tell him I went to buy tampons. That'll get him running in the other direction." Without waiting for a reply, Tina went out into the hall and gently shut the door behind her, leaving Blaine and Dave alone.

"So..." Blaine started.

"So..." Dave echoed.

There was just too much between them to really get anything going. That and the whole insane situation they'd been tossed into made everything... awkward, to say the least. Blaine hated awkward; it was his least favorite mood. With almost anything else, you at least had options, had actions, could get away from it. But awkward... The whole point was that you didn't quite know what to do, what it was best to do. That was why he avoided it whenever humanly possible, and it was definitely not here.

Nothing to do, then, but address the most pressing issue at hand. "Do you think you know where the third token is?"

Dave let out a breath. "I... think I have an idea."

"Let me guess: Scandals?"

"I thought about that, but I hadn't been going all that long when I ran into you guys. I don't know if it has the emotional ties that Tina said it needed." He sighed. "I think I have a better idea. But you're not going to like it."

Blaine had no idea what Dave was talking about, but he already didn't like it.

"Welcome to Breadstix!" the waitress said chirpily. "Table for two?"

Dave nodded, his face already red, his eyes darting from side to side. Blaine rolled his own eyes at Dave's cowardice. Didn't the idiot realize that even if anyone stared, no one would know who he was?

Some small part of him reminded him about 8th grade, but he ignored it.

"Actually..." Dave's voice broke in as the waitress turned. "We want a specific table. That one over there." He pointed.

The waitress shrugged. "Sure! No problem." She led them to the booth Dave had pointed out and gave them both menus. "Let me know if you have any questions about our specials tonight." She hurried off.

"I think she thinks we're dating," Dave joked weakly.

"Great," Blaine said sourly.

Dave took the opportunity to duck underneath the table. "I don't feel anyth— wait, I think I have something!" He popped back up like a gopher, beaming. Then he looked down at what was in his hand, and his face collapsed like a punctured souffle.

It was a Valentine, a cheap but cheerful little card with a cartoon bee on it. "Bee Mine", it said.

"And you knew it would be in this particular booth because...?" Blaine asked coldly. Dave didn't reply; he didn't have to. "You know he'll never love you."

Blaine wasn't even sure what kind of reaction he wanted from Dave, if he wanted one at all. Rage? Tears? It certainly wasn't what he got: resignation. "I know."

"What's he ever felt towards you?" Blaine knew, somewhere deep inside him, how cruel he was being, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Later, he would blame fear, blame stress, but even then, he knew that it wasn't entirely true. Maybe he was just saying all the things he'd wanted to say the previous year, just releasing emotions that had built up in that time like steam in a pressure cooker. "Hate? Fear? Pity? What kind of relationship could you build on that?"

"I know!" Dave snarled through clenched teeth.

"I'll never understand why he reached out to you..."

"Finally, one fucking thing we have in common!" Dave jerked his napkin open, spilling the silverware onto the table in a chorus of tinny clinks, and wiped his sweating face with it.

"What do you want, Karofsky?"

"I want to fucking exist, that's what I want..."

"That's not what I mean!" Blaine hissed. There was something about being there, at that table, at the very table where Dave Karofsky declared his love for his boyfriend, that opened some kind of door in his mind. "What do you want from Kurt? Are you still trying to get him to be your boyfriend?"

"I...!" The anger drained from Dave's face between heartbeats. He frowned. "I... I don't know... I never expected him to come to the hospital. I..."

"Just because he felt sorry for you and came to see you doesn't mean he's in love with you."

"I said I know that! Shit, I hope that's not the way you act towards Kurt!"

Blaine's voice descended into an arctic chill. "What's the way you hope I don't act towards Kurt?"

"Like you're not even listening to me! I've been saying all fucking day that I know I was a shithead, towards Kurt and a lot of other people! What the fuck more do you want?"

"For you to just...!" Even in his anger, Blaine knew better than to say the next words he wanted to say. Go away. After all, he didn't mean it like that... right? "Just... stay away from Kurt!"

"He can't be my friend if he wants to be?"

"Not when you and I both know that you want to be more than fucking friends."

"I'm dealing with that! You really think I'd—"

"Besides, Kurt always was too trusting for his own good."

Dave frowned. "Does he know what you think of him?"

"He knows that I love him," Blaine said loftily. "That's all that matters."

"But he doesn't know you think he's gonna abandon you when he's in New York."

Blaine flushed. "That's not what I said...!"

"Even if you didn't say those exact words, that's what you were saying," Dave snapped. "Why don't you want to talk about it with him? It's obvious it bothers you..."

"What I want doesn't matter."

"Seriously? For someone who thinks that what he wants doesn't matter you sure think about it a lot."

"What the fuck would you know about Kurt? All you ever do is bring him pain!"

"You forget, I've known him a lot longer than you. I know a hell of a lot about him... Even if I thought that the best things about him were the worst." Dave paused a moment, as if mulling over that revelation, before continuing. "I just want Kurt to be happy..."

Blaine laughed scornfully. "And you say you're not in love with him."

"I'm not denying that!" Dave growled. "But I'm going to leave him alone because I know you're fucking right that I'm not good enough for him!" He regarded Blaine coolly. "But I thought I'd be doing that knowing that he would be someone who was actually good for him."

Blaine's temper flared. "How dare you question my feelings for Kurt!"

"Are you even listening to yourself? You don't even think he's going to stand by you when he leaves!"

"He's not!" It took all of Blaine's willpower to keep from screaming. As it was, his throat burned from the suppressed volume.

"Shit, Blaine, how could you think that of him...?"

"It's not his fault! It's just going to happen. I'm going to be here, in fucking Ohio, alone..."

"What about the rest of the glee club...?"

Blaine snorted at Dave's naivete. "They care about Kurt, not me." Dave opened his mouth to speak, but Blaine ran over his intended words with his own. "And Kurt's going to be in New York, Karofsky!" he snapped. "Big city! Thousands of eligible gay men! What else is he going to do?"

"Uh... Stay loyal to his boyfriend? Whom he loves?"

"Oh, God, you are so naive. Let me let you in on a little truth, Karofsky: Everybody. Leaves. You can't depend on anyone. They say they care, but when push comes to shove, nobody cares about anyone else. They're all just looking out for themselves, so why should I be any different? Why should I be the one who's left out in the cold like a loyal puppy dog waiting for his master to come home while everyone else gets to live out their dreams?

"I am alone. So are you! So is everyone! Who do you think helped me get to where I am today? No one! I have no one to depend on but myself. My mom left. My brother went off to be some fucking Z-grade actor, never mind the home he knew he was leaving me to. Do you think he ever even thinks about me in Hollywood? He doesn't even think I'm worthwhile to know. My dad just wants me to follow in his fucking footsteps, to hell with what I want! My boyfriend is going off to leave me alone, and he doesn't even care! It's all NYADA this and NYADA that, never mind we're going to be thousands of miles apart! My friends? My so-called friends let a sociopath toss a salted Slushie into my face. So excuse the fuck out of me for thinking about myself, because nobody else is ever going to."

Blaine was actually panting by the end. There was a lot in his speech that he'd never vocalized... never even thought to himself. But now that it was out there, now that it was said... Not a single word of it wasn't the truth.

Finally, his attention focused on Dave. He was open-mouthed, staring in what looked like shock. What the hell was he so surprised about?

"Dude..." he finally said. "You've got issues."

"Fuck you!"

"No, really. I mean, I know fucked up, and..." He shook his head. "Goddamn, you really need to talk about this shit before it eats you up inside."

There was real concern in Karofsky's voice, real pity. That's what enraged Blaine the most. How dare he? How dare he feel sorry for him? Blaine Anderson should be pitying Dave Karofsky, not the other way around! Dave, who tried to hang himself and had no idea how the world fucking worked... "I don't need psychoanalysis from a bully."

"I'm serious, Blaine. If not Kurt, then someone. I used to think therapy was for losers, but my dad got me a doctor that—"

Dave thought he needed therapy? If he weren't so angry, he would've laughed in his face. "Shut up!" Blaine hissed, loud enough for a few of the closest neighboring tables to glance a moment in their direction. "How can you not understand this? What happened to your friends, huh? The guys you thought were your buddies at your new school? Azimio Adams was your best friend, right? Since you were kids? What happened to him? What happened to your own mother, Dave?" Dave reddened, his fists tightening on the cold wood table. That was better. Anger, especially from a caveman like Dave... It was so much easier to take than his pity. "If anyone gave a damn about you, do you really think you would've tried to hang yourself?"

That was it. He'd gone too far, and he knew it. Maybe he'd gone too far a while ago. But that didn't stop him from saying it. It certainly didn't stop his anger.

Dave gaped. "Holy shit, you really are throwing that in my face..."

Blaine's voice lowered — not out of any consideration for others, but out of a cold, mean rage. "You think I care? You push defenseless kids around, but you can't take a few words slung in your direction. You stalk someone you know is taken. You think you deserve anyone's consideration? You are pitiful, David Karofsky."

"Fine." His eyes glittering and cold, Dave pushed himself to his feet. "Fine." His jaw worked, as if wanting to say more, but couldn't push it through his own anger.

Blaine also rose, his jaw aching from tension. "I hope you do fucking disappear! Forever! Everyone would be better off!"

The words finally penetrated his fury. The dam broke, sending the cool rush of sanity back into his mind... along with the memories.

I can't believe this fucking fag was pretending to be normal!

Did you really think you'd get away with checking us out behind our backs, Anderson?

You deserve all the beatings you get, and more!

I hope you fucking go away. Forever. You think anyone is ever gonna miss you?

"Oh God..." He just wished someone would die. Like those bastards wanted me to... Despite everything, he was still a human being. He knew — he fucking knew — what kind of person hated someone else enough to wish them to die. Was he really that kind of person? Deep down, was he really? If the remorse flooding through him were any sign, the answer was no. "Dave, I..." But he was speaking to thin air. Judging by the looks some other patrons were giving the door, he'd already stomped out.

As if he were never actually ever there.

AN: Just a reminder that these two young men are not friends. They have a lot of reasons, legitimate and otherwise, to absolutely hate each other. So they had to hit rock bottom and lay all their cards on the table before they ever had a chance to resolve this situation, let alone get along.

This was rock bottom.