A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so happy that since I uploaded this story it only gained followers. It shows to me that you really like it and I should continue. This chapter is a bit slow, but it had to be done to explain a few things. The main action will start in the next one. I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

One of you asked me to make Sebastian mess with Kurt. That will happen eventually, maybe not in a way you expect. So keep reading this and you'll find out :)

Can't wait for more reviews!

K.

Chapter 5 – Rumors

Blaine couldn't find a place for himself. Even when he and Sam came back to the village for the night and sneaked into their sheds locking the door and closing the windows tightly, he couldn't sleep. The guilt was eating him alive. His whole body hurt from being hit by the soldiers and Sam, but it felt like he deserved every single punch and the pain that he was feeling now. He tried to walk around his place, to organize things, to tidy but whenever he went or whatever he did he could see Finn's face and hear Sam's words: make it right. How could he make it right?

Blaine had absolutely no idea what to do with soldiers shaking all villages around. When he and Sam came back they saw a bunch of dead bodies in the centre of the place being watched by the czar's soldiers. These serf men deserved beautiful funeral, all those innocent people, but they were lying there and shamelessly rotting. When he got short of things to tidy in his shed, Blaine tried to lie down and sleep for a while, but it was even harder. The minute he closed his eyes he could see a lot of dead bodies, soldiers and Finn's face… He could feel pain, but the pain turned into warmth and pleasure as he felt Kurt's body and lips pressing to his… It all mixed up and became one huge nightmare.

In the middle of a night Blaine sit up not being able to bare it anymore. He had to do something. He had to make it right somehow and lying in bed wasn't helping at all. He had to prove it to his friends that he didn't want to hurt anyone and he had to prove it to himself that he deserved Kurt's interest and love. Blaine took his knife, the only gun he ever owned, put on a dark shawl and sneaked out to the night. He walked straight to the village centre even if he wasn't exactly sure what he is going to do yet.

Walking around Blaine could see three soldiers sleeping and only two were left sitting by the side and talking amongst themselves in a language that he wasn't able to understand. Most of them had their guns close, but didn't look like they were watching the bodies too much. They probably thought that the serfs were scared enough of them and won't try to do anything or even come close. Not Blaine though. He walked around in the dark for a while when an idea came to his head. If he couldn't save Finn or any of the serfs from death, he could at least normally bury them and not let the soldiers to make fun of their legacy anymore. It didn't take him long to come up with a plan to make it happen.

Blaine waited while four soldiers fell asleep and left only one to watch over the bodies. He grabbed a thick stick, creeped closer and then hit the four sleep soldiers on the heads so hard that they fell unconscious. The fifth soldier noticed him right away and ran over trying to take out his gun, but Blaine was faster. He hit the man on the head too and when he fell down the serf grabbed his gun. He looked around if nobody heard him, but the village was silent. As silent as the unconscious soldiers.

Not being sure if he killed them or only took their consciousness for a while, Blaine hurried to take care of the bodies. He looked around the faces and respectfully closed their eyes. Most of them seemed like they died in pain or scared. Seeing that broke Blaine's heart and he couldn't keep silent tears from falling down his face when he carried the bodies to the cemetery of the village and buried them one after another. He spent a minute or two to stand by each of their grave and pray for them. When he finally noticed Finn's face in the dark, Blaine almost sobbed out loud. It was all his fault, he was the one who was supposed to be lying in Finn's place… Trying to keep silent he carried his friend and found a grave where Finn's parents were buried and buried him together with them. That was the last thing he could do to honor his friend. Rachel will understand, he knew…

Blaine didn't think he worked that long, but apparently it took him the whole night, because when he buried the last serf, a new day was dawning already. He quickly looked at the soldiers still not sure if he killed them, but if they didn't wake up probably that was the case. Blaine felt numb, but at least he did something right. When he finished working, the serf quickly picked up one gun from the soldiers, his stick and sneaked out of the village before anyone could wake up and recognize him.

He had to do something.

"But the rebels were maybe a hundred men! And they burned Hummel's estate to ashes!"

Blaine heard these words the next day when he was eating his poor slice of bread sitting on a street corner in the bazaar. He spent the whole night wondering around the village and looking for a safe place to hide, but he didn't know where to go, so he came up with the idea that not hiding was the best policy. If he didn't hide and didn't act like he did something, then nobody will look for him. Blaine was aching to hear the news about the rebellion and if anyone noticed his nightly work, so that's how he ended up in the bazaar. It was the best place to hear all the rumors.

"They only burned down the stables…"

Looking up Blaine could see two very well-dressed men talking about the rebellion and started listening more carefully. It seemed like one of them was trying to convince the other of something. What Blaine didn't understand was why they said that the stables were burned by the rebels when he saw with his eyes that the soldiers did it by shooting foolishly.

"What stables – they burned the entire estate to the ground!" The first man gestured enthusiastically and Blaine almost chuckled. He knew that the Hummel estate was still standing there all good, he's been inside even.

"You're talking nonsense, my dear friend." The second man laughed obviously not taking his friend's words seriously. "But have you heard about what happened in the village last night?"

"Oh of course! Who haven't?" The other man answered. "The rebels buried all killed serfs… What honorable men… Such bravery, such morality…"

Blaine couldn't wrap his head around what these men were talking. He wasn't brave or moral… He wasn't even honorable… He was just a serf trying to make things right. Also, he knew that rebels didn't burn the stables and didn't bury the serfs. Something didn't fit quite right here. He tried to think for a while and suddenly it hit him.

There was no rebellion.

Yet.

Everyone thought that these things were done by the rebels, but the rebellion didn't start yet and all of that was just a coincidence. Somehow magically Blaine found himself involved in the middle of that coincidence. But he could also see now how people looked up at the rumored rebels, how they trusted and needed them. Sighting and standing up he felt a gun shifting close to his body. It seemed like he found a way to make things right.

"Did anyone see him? The rebel leader." Blaine heard one woman asking her friend when he walked down the street of the bazaar.

"No,but they say he's as big as a mountain!" The woman in a blue dress answered out loud supposedly showing with her hand how big that rebel leader was.

Blaine smiled sheepishly. He wasn't as big as a mountain, but he could try.

Burt didn't know what he was thinking to himself when he agreed to meet Edmund one more time. It was probably even more foolish of him to agree to meet him in his house rather than in the Hummel estate where he was surrounded by serfs that he trusted. Now he found himself in the middle of a room with a gun pointed at his head and Edmund smiling calmly.

"What does it mean, Edmund?" Burt asked trying to not make any fast moves. "You know, I can report you to the soldiers, right?"

"Oh of course I know. I know a lot of things." Edmund shook his head as if he couldn't believe Burt's stupidity. "Something what others should know too. And especially our young Smythe."

Burt didn't know what to say. This man knew way too much for his own good and he was using it to blackmail him for years, but he never took it that far. Edmund pointed the gun to the table in the middle of the room and two chairs. He gestured for the nobleman to sit down and they did. What else Burt could do with a gun pointed at his head? He knew that Edmund would kill him if he wanted to and no one could stop him.

"What do you want from me?" Burt asked, because obviously money that he's been paying for years wasn't enough anymore. Edmund pushed a sheet of paper towards him with a free hand. "What is it?" Burt asked and looked at the paper.

"An endowment note." Edmund said smiling and chuckled obviously very happy with his plan. "That you are charmed with the loyalty of your obedient servant and the merits of his entire life… You give him the land and the estate which previously belonged to you and Adam Smythe – well, that's the one you killed – but which belongs to only you now. Signed by Burt Hummel."

"Fuck you!" Burt screamed, grabbed the paper and tore it into pieces.

"Oh what a good clerk I got…" Edmund only laughed at the lord's rage and took out another paper just like the first one while he still pointed the gun at Burt's head. "He wrote out two and only charged me for one…"

"I'd rather die…" Burt spit out trying to keep his posture strong and unaffected, but it was so difficult in that situation. He had nowhere to run.

"Just think, Burt, what will happen to your estate?" Edmund asked pretending to be sad. "To your faithful serfs… And to your lovely… Naive son..."

Burt raised his head to look at Edmund one more time. Kurt was his light, his happiness and his life. He was his heritor too. The land and the estate after his death will go to Kurt. He couldn't let Edmund to take it from them, but he also couldn't let Kurt to get hurt. The nobleman looked at the gun one more time. There was no way out and he didn't want to prove Edmund turning the gun back at him and become a murderer one more time. So he took the pen and signed the papers.

"Damn you with that land." Burt whispered and threw the pen down his eyes full of tears. Then he looked up at Edmund with disgust. "When are you going to take it?" He asked.

"When you clean up the mess and the rebellion." Edmund answered and chuckled.

Kurt has been looking for his father the whole morning. None of their household serfs knew where he went or were ordered not to tell, so Kurt was left on his own. He really needed to talk to his dad and tell him what Sebastian was doing in the village. The young nobleman couldn't believe that his father would let anyone hurt his people so much and make such a chaos on his land. And Sebastian was doing exactly that. So after a long hour of looking, Kurt found Burt in a pasture with horses.

"Why are you hiding?" Kurt asked softly when he reached his dad and saw him brushing one horse's mane.

"You know, horses are better than people." Burt answered calmly, but Kurt could hear a weird sadness in his voice. "They understand everything… They never betray you… They'll run away if things are bad, but won't betray you."

"Daddy…" Kurt walked over to his father and touched his arm softly. "Have you seen what Sebastian is doing in the village?"

"Yes…" Burt only nodded his head hopelessly. "The world has changed, Kurt. I've changed."

"Please, don't…" Kurt leaned closer to his father putting his head on Burt's shoulder and reached out to soothe the horse's back. He really didn't know what else to say. They couldn't just fix it and Kurt felt how tense his dad was when he touched him. Burt wasn't one of those men that share a lot of his thoughts with his son, but he didn't have to. Kurt just felt him.

"I can't tell my friends from my enemies anymore, my boy." Burt added somehow quieter and sighted deeply. Kurt could hear pain in his dad's voice as he obviously didn't know what to do either. They were lost, stuck between the duties and czar's dirty games and their own morals and humanity.

They stayed like that for a few minutes trying to calm one another, soothing the horse and brushing their manes. They didn't talk not wanting to disturb the peace, because they both knew they won't get to enjoy this peace for long. Kurt could see that his father was hopeless against the soldiers who were sent by the czar. Everyone was hopeless against czar's will. And yet there was a rebellion rising in their woods with a bunch of brave people fighting against the powers they couldn't even imagine existed. It inspired Kurt deeply.

"Everything will be alright, dad." Kurt said finally and put down the brush.

"No, it won't… No, Kurt." Burt answered and shook his head. He walked over and hugged his son with his strong arms.

The only one that Burt wanted to protect so much was his son and he felt scared, because with time it became clear that it will not be that easy. It was very rare to see Burt scared, but Kurt understood now that his dad was just as terrified and lost as he was.

"Do you know any of the rebels? Do you maybe know where they are hiding?" Kurt asked softly a small, maybe ten years old serf boy who he caught in the bazaar. His serfs were buying some vegetables and they didn't hear him, so it was a perfect time to make his plan happen. It was obvious that the boy felt quite intimidated by the nobleman, so Kurt tried to be friendly and simple with him.

"No, no… I don't know any of the rebels…"

The boy's eyes started flicking as he tried to avoid Kurt's eyes and it was clear to the young man that this serf boy knows something. He didn't want to scare the boy even more, so Kurt took out a small cloth bag. It was full of candies and little treats that Kurt managed to find in his estate and knew that little boys would like to have. The boy's eyes flickered again.

"Okay, let's say you don't know any of the rebels. But if you accidentally knew… Or had any friends who knew…" Kurt smiled at the boy encouraging and pushed the bag with candies into his hand along with a small letter. "Please, find this one rebel called Blaine and give him this letter. He will know who it's from. And if you don't find him, burn this letter so nobody else can read it, okay?"

The boy hesitated for a minute, but took the candies and the letter and nodded his head a little. Kurt smiled at him one more time. He hoped that it will work.

"It means so much to me. Thank you." Kurt added then and walked away after kissing the boy's forehead softly.