His brother is crying, panting out sobs of relief as he kisses all over Blaine’s forehead, half-shove-pulls him into a sitting position.

“What,” Blaine wheezes, “the fuck?”

“You’re okay, jesus, fuck-”

“-why are you here, what,” Blaine interrupts, repeats, “what the fuck?”

Cooper’s grinning, eyes shining with tears. “I have powers.”

Blaine is about to wheeze out a third what when he hears a sound alike to screeching, hears two sets of footsteps come stampeding down the hall.

“BLAINE!”

It’s Brittany, throwing herself down beside him and Santana a second later and everyone’s crying and “fuck, fuck,” Brittany says, panting, “you almost died, you idiot, oh my god-”

Blaine’s brain takes a second longer to thump heavily against his skull, and then everything’s flashing back, Sebastian, ice monster, Kurt-

“Where’s Kurt?” he says, suddenly, clearer than before.

“Sebastian took him,” Santana answers, voice venomous.

“Let’s go, then,” Blaine says, and Cooper shakes his head.

“I am not letting you anywhere near that stupid fucking asshole of a super-villain again-”

Blaine shoves himself to stand, half-wincing, gritting his teeth. “I’m going to save him.”

“I need to protect you-”

“-then come with me,” Blaine snaps, head pounding, “but you’re not stopping me.”

Cooper glares, looks away. “Fine.”

“We’re coming too,” Brittany and Santana say simultaneously, rushing to the front of Blaine’s vision.

“Yeah?” Cooper questions, looking suspiciously at the both of them.

A moment passes.

“Yeah,” Blaine says, loudly, half to the still-peering crowd at the end of the hallway, half to himself, “let’s go kick some fucking ass!”

*

Kurt’s underwater-drowsy, everything fuzz-buzzing around the edges, light vibrating into clear memory and clearer vision; he’s being carried, limbs slouching down in front of him, figure lazily hanging over a shoulder. Sebastian’s shoulder.

Kurt tenses up, blinks too much, tries to remember through the haze.

“S-Sebastian?” he questions, too quietly to really be considered speech.

“Yes, baby?”

Kurt tenses up more, impossibly stiff, and breathes as calmly as he can. “What’s going on?” He knows what’s going on, but he has to say something, has to make Sebastian talk.

There’s a heartbeat of horrifying silence before Sebastian replies. “You love me.”

It’s a statement, not a question, not an inch for budging or negotiating and Kurt wants to throw up at the cold finality in Sebastian’s voice; he doesn’t sound scared or curious or alive.

Kurt can feel his heart pounding, and he can’t think, and he can feel his bones trembling, so he repeats, “Sebastian?”

“You love me, Kurt,” he says, hand sliding up onto Kurt’s shoulder and squeezing in what’s probably supposed to be a reassuring manner, but all Kurt wants to do is shake him off and run.

Kurt gulps. “I love you.”

The footsteps stop, and relief washes over Kurt.

“What?”

“I love you,” Kurt repeats, before he can let himself back out.

“Really?” Sebastian says, and he sounds smaller, but happier, if by only a little bit.

“Really,” Kurt says, sounding as genuine as he can. He feels Sebastian shudder against him, letting Kurt slide off him a little before he lets him drop to the ground, and Kurt gasps; it’s cold, so cold that it feels like he’s sitting on ice.

Kurt opens his eyes, tries not to look at Sebastian, quick-glances across the room until he finally registers his surroundings; he’s in a building, walls decorated with bright colours and pictures of pies and cakes and Kurt can’t help but gasp quietly to himself.

It’s the bakery, Brittany’s bakery; he’s only been here once or twice, but there’s nowhere in Lima that’s this intentionally colourful. Kurt looks down, re-gasps – every inch of the floor is ice, and it’s not just covering it; it’s like the floor has literally been frozen.

Kurt pauses, shakes his head clear, winces at the immediate throb. “Why did you take me to the bakery?”

Sebastian doesn’t respond, so Kurt looks up at him, has about a second’s warning before Sebastian’s kissing him, making him lean back on one elbow as he tries to stay calm, kiss back as convincingly as he can.

Sebastian pulls back after a second, stares at Kurt, searches with his eyes. “I’m going to make you see,” he whispers.

Oh my god and you thought he was fucking psychotic before.

Kurt breathes deep, opens his mouth to reply but there’s a sudden, sharp pain in his neck, spiking up to his skull and he silently gasps, eyes watering. He sees Sebastian pull a needle from his neck, toss it aside, watching Kurt like a hawk all the while.

There’s a sudden flare of heat in his neck, searing up the side and across his face and burningburningburning-

Kurt falls onto his back, head hitting the ice floor like a hammer on a nail, and groan-whines at the pain. “Sebastian,” he says, panting, “what are you doing?”

Sebastian leans forward, a chillingly calm smile on his face, and giggles. “I’m not psychotic, Kurt,” he says, and Kurt’s blood runs cold through the heat.

“What-” Kurt manages to choke out, but Sebastian interrupts.

“There will be plenty of time for questions after, baby-”

“-don’t fucking call me that,” Kurt spits, attempt to drag himself backwards, feels his entire left side flare up.

“I’m going to make you see, Kurt,” Sebastian growls, crouching closer, and Kurt can’t breathe. “You love me.”

“No, I don’t,” Kurt pants, god, fuck, he’s on fire.

“You’ll see, Kurt,” Sebastian whispers, and he’s less than an inch away now, slowly standing taller, tall as a tree, a skyscraper, a monster.

“What’s happening to me?” Kurt sobs out, stops trying to move away, just lying there, trying to regain his breath, his sanity, he’s lying on ice and there’s an inferno in his blood.

Sebastian doesn’t reply, leans down and lifts Kurt over his shoulder with as little effort as he would with a ragdoll. Kurt feels himself slump, hears a distant, ominous squeak of a door, feels himself drop to the ground, and everything is much, much colder than before, and Sebastian’s standing in front of him.

“I love you,” he whispers, slams the room into darkness, and Kurt is crying, panting, boiling.

*

“Why are we going to a bakery again?” Cooper questions.

“Because Sebastian’s there,” Brittany replies, peering around a corner, sighing to herself. “Blazer, you’ve got some fans,” she whispers to Blaine, gesturing behind the same corner. Blaine peers around, huffs angrily; what must be the entire student body is following the four of them.

Why?

Brittany shrugs and Blaine swings around the corner, slams his fist against the building in front of him, watches as the entire wall falls to pieces, points at it and screams, “FUCK OFF!” as loudly as he can. The crowd scatters, and Blaine hears Cooper chuckle lightly behind him. The mood stays relatively light-hearted until Santana appears before them, shaking out her limbs and looking panicked.

“We have to move,” is all she says, and then she’s off and running. Blaine, Cooper and Brittany speed after her, and everything’s a blur, and then all Blaine can hear is screaming, and he feels hot but it’s not him, he can control it now, it’s not him-

They slam to a stop in front of the bakery, and Brittany gasps.

“What is it?” Blaine demands, circling around her as Cooper and Santana ram against the door.

“Kurt,” she chokes out, “he’s – he can’t breathe-”

The door snaps open behind him and Blaine spins, rushes through, ignores Brittany’s cries of warning before the door slams shut behind him again, and then everyone’s screaming.

Blaine’s up against the wall, a smiling Sebastian in his face and he’s cold, too cold and dropping to his feet as Blaine feels himself glowing hot, hears Sebastian hiss and slams his palm openly against his face, watches Sebastian scream too.

He distantly hears the door slam open again, sees three figures rush through and then Sebastian’s on the ground, Cooper straddling his chest and hands locked vice-tight around his throat and squeezing and pressing and killing, and Blaine’s never seen his brother that angry before.

He rushes over to the freezer, slams his hands onto the death-cold metal and glows and it’s melting and sliding apart and Blaine could almost cry from relief, tearing apart whatever doesn’t drip away and tearing away the whole door and then his heart stops.

Kurt’s ice-white, little flicks of frost on his skin and hair; he’s not moving.

Blaine rushes in, scoops him up as carefully as he can and steps back, lays him down on the ground and just looks.

“Kurt?” he asks, voice cracking as his eyes flood, “Kurt?”

 Kurt doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, doesn’t breathe. Blaine lets out a slow sob that tears through the room, pausing everyone, and reaches up his hand to rest over Kurt’s heart.

There’s no heartbeat, no pulse, no blood in him, nothing and Blaine’s so angry, he’s an inferno and a boy made of fire instead of skin-and-bone and he’s boiling, boiling, burning and the glow from his hand spikes into Kurt’s skin, flaring across him, spreading down through him and Blaine can see his ribcage and lungs and heart and-

Thump.

Blaine howls, because he saw it, saw Kurt’s heart move but it’s like his arm’s being torn off, stretching and breaking and he presses down, breaks the ribcage and just touches his hand to his heart.

Kurt gasps, and Blaine flings himself back, watching like a hawk. “Kurt?”

Kurt’s still panting, but he looks over, stares at him. “Blaine?”

Blaine grins, sobbing, slides forward and cups his cheeks and kisses him, fast and tender and fuck-

“I love you, Kurt Hummel,” he whimpers as he breaks away, snot and tears painting his face.

“I love you too,” Kurt whispers, voice scratchy-quiet.

A loud bang sounds from across the room, and they both look up in time to see the roof caving in, hear the sharp, panicked scream of, “Brittany!”

*

The door’s open and Kurt’s out but something’s wrong but Blaine’s got it, Santana knows, true love or something can fix it, right?

There’s a shout from behind her, and Cooper’s on his back, and Sebastian’s gone, and Santana freezes.

“Where is he?” she asks quietly, half-panicked, looking from Cooper to Brittany, who’s carefully observing on the other side of the room. She shrugs, and Santana almost lets herself breathe before she hears it.

A loud bang, directly above Brittany and Brittany scoots backwards, presses herself against the wall, and Santana can almost hear her thinking but before anyone can move the ceiling cracks, and Santana can see the roof caving and Brittany moves but it’s a second too late and-

“Brittany!”