“As you can see, boys, we are able to produce something unprecedented to the world, right here in this laboratory. We are able to make copies of other humans, by taking just one egg from the female specimen and fertilizing it. We can make up to ninety-six of the same person from one. It’s incredible. We will have a working class like no other in the world. Just try to wrap your brains around the possibilities.” She smiled smugly to the group and moved on from the spot where she stood in front of the test tubes containing the eggs of the future working caste of the World State and briskly walked into the next room, the group of young boys eagerly following her.

“And here is where we determine the caste into which the embryos will be sorted into. Of course, you all know your caste, which is why you are here learning about this. The first group, the Alphas—like you—goes into this first room. Nothing is changed. The same goes for the Betas. But then the third and fourth and so on are sorted as Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each group receives a special treatment based on what they are so they are more suited to their jobs. Epsilons need less free thought, so we cure them of that burden and condition them that way.” The last room she gestured to closed its doors and a red flashing light went on, indicating the lack of oxygen in the room. Every last bit of it was sucked from the room to ensure the proper conditioning that the Epsilons would receive from their determined caste. The group scribbled notes onto the pads of paper they carried with them.

“Mind blowing, isn’t it?” asked the Director. She was a pretty woman, one of the Alpha-Plus caste with golden honey locks and a voice just as smooth. She flipped her hair back and smiled at the group of boys. They stared at her in awe, hardly able to contain their attraction to her. She knew their struggle but it only seemed to empower her. Quinn Fabray was meant to be in control.

-O-

Rachel Berry sat in the club alongside her on-again, off-again friend Jesse St. James.

“So, Rachel, who’s taking you out tomorrow night?” he inquired, taking a sip of the drink in front of him.

She shrugged. “Oh, you know, Finn Hudson. He’s offered to take me to the feelies.” Jesse sat up straighter.

“Rachel. You can’t. What is this with Finn? This has been going on for three months now. You’ve been spending far too much time with him!” He grabbed her wrist. “You don’t want people to start talking about you like that.”

She sighed. “But Jesse, he’s so nice! And he buys me the nicest things! Sometimes I like to pretend that there’s no one else but him and I –“

Jesse cut her off. “Rachel, you can’t talk like that. Do you want to get arrested? Damn it, I thought you had a lot more sense than that as an Alpha.” He turned back to his drink and downed it. “Promise me you’ll start seeing more people.”

-O-

Finn Hudson sat on the bench in the changing room, talking to his good friend Noah Puckerman. They were discussing the matter of all the girls and guys they had had, and Finn was encouraging Puck to take out more girls with good reputations.

“Dude, you should take out that Santana girl. She gets it on with everybody. If you want to improve your image, you have to take her out. You should be seen with a good girl like her.”

-O-

Quinn led the group to yet another room that resembled a nursery that housed hundreds of babies. Each crib was wired to a network of cables that ran to a central place on the middle of the far wall. A projector set up in the room showed pictures of books and flowers and fluffy animals. The babies made cooing noises and sat up in their cribs to get a better look at it, but when they least expected it, the worker in the room flipped the switch on the panel in front of her and the room was filled with a tooth-numbing buzzing.

The babies shrieked in terror and writhed in pain as the shock went through to them. The group widened their eyes but said nothing as the torture continued, then stopped abruptly. The pictures were shown again, but this time the babies cowered in the corners of their cribs, desperate to get away from the horrible images that caused them all the pain.

-O-

“I don’t know, man. She’s really good. Even I haven’t been with that many people. I would look like someone who belongs in prison compared to her.” Puck shook his head. “What about someone else?” he inquired.

-O-

The students were led into a room with a large television screen and they crowded around to watch the short program.

A flash of red stretched across the screen, then they see her on the television. The Coach.

She sat in her chair and swiveled around to face the boys. “Hello future employees. No doubt you are here today to learn about how our world is run and made, and I’m here to explain a few things to you. You see, this world used to be disgustingly corrupt. Then, things started to change. By the time I was offered this position, things were running smoothly, and it’s my job to keep it that way. Do you know why we have things the way we do here?” The glare through the screen was intense. “Don’t worry; I don’t expect your little minds to know.”

-O-

Rachel stirred her drink around. “What’s the harm in seeing Finn still?” she asked quietly.

Jesse looked at her in disbelief. “Are you serious right now? Rachel, I can’t fucking believe you. You just can’t. What are people going to say about you? You’re lucky enough to be an Alpha so they haven’t said too much yet, but mark my words, they’re going to start saying something soon if you don’t start seeing other people.”

-O-

“You see, strong emotion, inspired by family relationships, sexual repression, and delayed satisfaction of desire, goes directly against stability. Without stability, civilization cannot exist. Before the existence of the World State, the instability caused by strong emotions led to disease, war, and social unrest that resulted in millions of deaths and untold suffering and misery. That is why this world was created, out of the failure of the old world. Everybody is happy, and everybody is happy because everyone else is happy.

“Without this, our world would fail, just like the previous one did. And that’s how Sue Sylvester “sees” it.” She finished her short speech by making a “C” with her hand and winking through the screen, then it faded to black. The group of students erupted in applause.

-O-

Finn thought for a moment. “Well, there’s Rachel Berry. I’m taking her out tomorrow night. You should have a go with her. She’s a lot of fun, even if she is a little demanding.”

Blaine Anderson sat a couple of locker rows back, listening in to the conversation between the two men. He was vaguely disgusted with their talk. They seemed to consider Rachel as just another girl that they could easily get. He wanted to say something, but he knew that he would be thrown into jail or something if he did. That kind of talk was treasonous.

-O-

The group was now outside, observing the children in play. A girl was engaging a boy in a harmlessly sexual game, and they were having fun. The students became fully relaxed at that, thankful to see some normalcy after the images from the nursery. Sue Sylvester’s speech cheered them up, but they needed the reassurance of seeing things in action before they could completely calm down. The only thing that would be worse would be the mention of the taboo, but nobody was stupid or even brave enough to say the words aloud. The thought of a parent was too forbidden, too unusual, too horrifying to even want to mention that it was largely ignored.

-O-

Jesse stared at Rachel angrily. “Come on, Rachel. Promise me. Why don’t you go out with that Blaine what’s-his-name? He’s been getting a lot of acclaim for his recent study. Didn’t you say that he asked you on that trip to Ohio or something? Go with him, and I’m sure he’ll show you a good time.”

-O-

“Alright, man. I’ll take her out sometime. She better be a lot of fun, like you said.”

Finn grinned at Puck. “Oh, trust me, she is.”

-O-

The last stop on the tour was a room full of sleeping children all around the ages of six and seven. Each of them wore a pair of headphones, but the voice could be heard since it was playing on the speakers embedded in the ceilings. “Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas, but they are still smarter than the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Betas do not have to work as hard as the cleverer Alphas…” The voice repeated over and over the message, ingraining it into the children’s minds, who wore the light blue colors of a Beta.

Quinn explained the concept of hypnopaedia. “Hypnopaedia is essentially sleep teaching. It was discovered years ago, through a method that most of you would find offending, but we must know it for only our scientific research. The lesson will be repeated one hundred and twenty times, three times a week, for thirty months. That will ensure memorization of the morals we introduce here. It is perhaps the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time.” The look on her face was purely one of deep thought for the potential of the World State and its use of hypnopaedia.

-O-

Rachel turned back to Jesse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start something. I’ll go with Blaine.”

Jesse wrapped his arms around her. “Now there’s a good girl.” He took her glass and raised it to her lips. “Drink up. I wanna get out of here and back to my place for some fun.” She obliged, and they slipped out of the club, a little tispy, but able to get back to Jesse’s apartment.

He went to his mini bar and pulled out a bottle of liquor and took a drag straight from it. He offered it to her and she took a long drink from it as well. Thoughts became cloudier as the bottle was emptied and the clothes came off, but they didn’t care. It was all a part of the society they had come to know, and it was the only way to do their part of contributing to the whole happiness of the world.

-O-

Quinn turned brightly to the group. “Now you see what we’re about here at the Center. Hopefully you will all be able to fill out your future jobs here to your full potential. I’m sure Our Coach would be proud to see you all here.” At the mention of The Coach, everybody made the sign of an “S” across their chest. She spoke up again. “Remember. Community, Identity, Stability.”

-O-

Rachel wasn’t really sure how much she liked Blaine Anderson. Sure, he was extremely handsome, smart, and charming, but that came standard with being an Alpha-Plus. There was just some sort of unsettling difference about him that she really didn’t like. But then again, she didn’t know him all that well. Maybe this trip would change her mind.

She met him at his helicopter pad, with her bags packed and ready to be loaded. He waved to her, and pointed to one of the Delta-Minus attendants to help her with her bags. He gestured to her to go ahead and find a seat, and that he would meet her in there. She followed his instructions, and after he watched her board the helicopter, he turned to his friend beside him.

Wesley Ngyuen was another Alpha-Plus, known for his studies at the College of Emotional Engineering. He was a good looking man, with dark hair and tanned skin, perfect for what one would picture for someone of his caste. He looked at his friend. “Blaine, you can’t hide things from me. Something is bothering you. You’re becoming withdrawn, and it’s not just me that’s noticing it.” He looked expectantly at him.

Blaine took a deep breath, looked around the area to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and confided in his friend. “Do you think I’m…normal? For someone of my class, that is. I just have this feeling of severe inferiority to everybody here. I can’t help it.”

Wes gave him a hard look, but one that betrayed a concern for Blaine. “Why do you think you feel that way, Blaine?”
Blaine shook his head and laughed uncomfortably. “That’s the thing! I don’t know! Is it because I’m so damn short? Or because I don’t look like everybody else? Why do you think I style my hair this way, Wes? My hair isn’t straight like everybody else’s. If I grew it out, then it would look like some sort of nest! I don’t feel like I fit in with this caste. I know I’m smart enough, damn it, but why do I look differently?”

Wes’ look softened. “I think you know the answer to that, Blaine.”

“Yeah, well every day I wish it didn’t have to be this hard to be so different. I’m not supposed to be like this. Why can’t I be just like everybody else?” He kicked angrily at a rock on the ground, sending it skittering across the pavement.

“Maybe you’re not meant to be like everybody else, Blaine.” He took in Blaine’s shocked expression at his words. “Don’t start on me. I know what I’m talking about, just not now. I can’t tell you here. Perhaps when you return, though. I promise.” He tried to smile to brighten the situation, but Blaine wasn’t paying any attention so Wes gave up.

“Come on. Just go and have a fun time with Rachel. She is an upstanding girl, and it’ll give your reputation a boost when people hear that you were with her.” He pushed Blaine towards the helicopter and stood by the door with him. “I promise I’ll tell you. Just – not now. I’m still figuring it out.”

He left Blaine standing in the doorway, staring after Wes while he walked away. When Blaine couldn’t see him anymore, he turned and climbed in the copter and slid into the seat next to Rachel. As soon as he belted himself in, she swung her legs up onto his lap and hummed lazily.
“So I was thinking that once we got to Ohio that we could find a little club and have some fun. What do you think about that?”

Blaine wasn’t listening, but he nodded absentmindedly and stared into space at the scenery that blurred past them as the copter shot off noisily towards Ohio in the distant horizon.

-O-

Once they arrived, Rachel made her way to the rooms at the hotel and insisted that she get ready before they left. She needed to change her clothes to something more suitable to dance in, so Blaine left her and went to sit in one of the chairs on the balcony.

The silence is lonely, only interrupted by Rachel’s eventual completion of getting ready. She taps on Blaine’s shoulder to signal that it’s time to go out. He turns to find her dressed in a skimpy outfit, revealing a lot of her legs and her chest. He sighed. It was going to be an interesting night.

-O-

The club was thrumming with the synthetic beat of a deep bass playing in time with rhythmic drums and screaming guitars. The place was alive with people throwing themselves everywhere, at anyone who would notice them and satisfy their needs. Alcohol sloshed all over the place and flowed freely down people’s throats. Rachel made her way straight to the back of the bar and ordered herself two drinks to start out with. She turned to Blaine. “Do you want anything? I’ll get it for you.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll get it myself. Why don’t you go on up and sing something for everybody?” he suggested. Anything, really to get her out of his space. He didn’t want to talk to her right now, let alone look at her. The way she was presenting herself was disgusting to him.

She brightened at the direction. “Okay!” she chirped, and skipped off towards the stage with both drinks in her hands, one of them already nearly gone.

Blaine sat at one of the stools at the bar, just watching the people in the club sway to the beat and openly kissing whomever they felt like. Sloppily, of course. He would drink something, but he wanted a clear mind without all of the tranquilizers and depressants that came with the alcohol produced by the World State.

He could hear Rachel putting in a request to sing, and she was obliged quickly after granting a small favor to the already drunk man in charge. She stepped up on the stage and the song that was already playing was cut off abruptly, but soon replaced with the beginning to what she would be singing. Not that anyone really noticed, or cared, really. Mostly everyone was too far into their drunken stupor to pay enough attention to small details like that. All they needed was the drinks, another person, and a steady beat to guide them.

She began to sing one of the approved songs that the World State allowed. Or what was left from the old days of music that was deemed appropriate for today. Most of the songs from back then would be too explicit now, so it was a relief to everybody that there were some wholesome songs that were salvaged from that age.

She had a beautiful voice. Really, she did. But Blaine thought it was such a shame for it to be spent on something so meaningless. He thought she would be better suited to sing the stuff that would be banned. The problem with the songs those days were that there were no real emotions aside from plain sex. And that wasn’t really an emotion.

It was more of an urge that people didn’t feel the need to control every once and a while. Blaine wished he would have to try to repress himself, rather than trying to arouse himself with most of the people he went to bed with. Especially the girls. It wasn’t abnormal that he preferred men over the women—there was plenty of that in the society (homosexuality better prevents the possibility of pregnancy, so really, it was encouraged and everybody tried it)—but he didn’t want just random flings with people.

But he still had to try and keep his reputation as an upstanding, wholesome man, and that meant being with everybody, regardless of the level of attraction you felt to them. You just didn’t stick with one person. Feelings like that weren’t supposed to exist.

The hours passed by in a blur as he went in and out of a state of staring into space and tuning out the club. He danced a little bit with Rachel, though she had other ideas, he tried to keep his distance as much as possible and frequently excused himself to the bar to “get another drink”. He didn’t have a single drop though. He wanted a clear mind.

Soon enough, she was begging to be brought back to the hotel, so he flew the helicopter towards the place that they were staying. They landed and found their way to the room and Blaine went straight to sit on the chairs on the balcony again.

Rachel leaned against the doorway of the balcony, twirling her hair around her finger. “Hey, Blaine. Why don’t you come on in? It’s so cold out here. Besides, there’s a lot more to do inside.” Her face was hopeful despite how drunk she was. She had enough sense before she came to talk to him to take the contraceptives that she always packed with her. There was no way she wanted to risk that.

He sat with his head rested on his hand, which was propped up on one knee. He looked up at the night sky into the moon shining brightly. It was huge, nearly taking up the entire sky, but that was because the atmosphere was laced with illusions that made it seem like the moon was closer. The World was full of stuff like that. Nothing was ever what it really seemed, but nobody ever cared enough to look beyond the surface. They just took things at face value because that’s what they were used to doing.

“Do you ever feel alone?” he asked. “Like you’re the only person in the world that has different thoughts, different feelings, different everything?” He didn’t turn around to gauge her reaction, but instead he focused on the moon more. “Sometimes, I feel like I’m not meant to be a part of this society. I don’t feel like I belong. I look different, even.”

Rachel stood there quietly, but whispered softly, “When the individual feels, the community reels…”

Blaine cut her off. “Do you know why you say that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s because you’re conditioned to think that. When you’re nothing but a baby, they start you off with little phrases, just repeated over and over and over again to ingrain those silly mantras in your mind. Do know what it even means?”

“Of course I do –“

“It doesn’t matter. This World exists only to serve a limited number of people, and even us, the highest caste, we can’t even get the most out of it. We have no real games, we have no real art. We have nothing that’s organically created, nothing that’s a product of someone’s imagination because they’ve taken our imaginations away. Don’t you ever wish that you could sing what you’re feeling instead of the stupid junk that they let you sing?”

“Blaine, I don’t like this talk, you’re scaring me –“

“I have an answer for you. Of course you want to. But you’re too afraid to tell anybody about it. I bet the entire World is just full of people who are too afraid to speak out against the fucked up things that go on here.”

She shook her head at him with tears in her eyes. “Please don’t talk like this,” she whispered.

This time he turned to face her. He stared into her eyes and saw what she had been too afraid to admit, but also her discomfort at his words. He sighed and went inside heading to the mini bar and he pulled out a large bottle of alcohol. He downed nearly a third of it in one gulp, and reached in his pocket for his arousal tablets, and gulped them down with another swig from the bottle. He was going to need them that night.

Rachel gave a half smile at him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She began to undress.

At least he was trying.

-O-

The trip to the Reservation was scheduled for the next day, so Blaine woke up bright and early (though somewhat groggily) to get ready and wake Rachel. He ended up sleeping on the couch, despite having sex with her the night before, and he was stiff from sleeping on such an uncomfortable space.

They traveled in an uncomfortable silence to the designated spot—somewhere called Lima—and Rachel got out quickly when Blaine landed the helicopter. He sat there for a moment longer and rubbed his hand on his forehead for a moment. He didn’t have a headache—there were no such things as illnesses or body pains—but his head felt messed up, like something was wrong. But he had to get on with the rest of the trip as best as he could without upsetting Rachel even more. He couldn’t afford to have her telling everyone about what he said last night. It would thoroughly ruin him.

He sighed and left the helicopter, following her to meet the Warden to hear about the numerous rules that were set in place in order to keep the Reservation open to those who had permits. Blaine had already gotten one from the Director. When he asked for the permit about a week prior, she had acted strangely.

He knocked on the door to her office and waited in the doorway for her permission to enter. “Come in,” she called to him; her back turned to him because she was organizing papers in the shelf behind her desk. She put the last stack in a folder and shelved it, and turned around and sat in her chair to talk.

“So, what can I do for you?” she asked. She knitted her hands together and rested her chin on them, smiling across the desk at him in a sickly sweet smile.

He looked at the floor for a second, then flashed his eyes up to look into hers. “I want permission for me and a guest to go to the Reservation in Ohio next week.”

Quinn sat back in her chair. “You want to visit the Reservation, huh? With whom?” She eyed him with a smirk.

“Um, Rachel Berry,” he answered.

“Appropriate choice,” she said approvingly. “She could be considered pretty by some. She’s had relations with enough people to be considered a wholesome girl. Even I’ve had a good time with her.” She leaned in closer over her desk. “However, I see right through it. I know what your aim is. Don’t think you can fool me.”

The look on Blaine’s face was one of pure confusion and panic. He screwed his eyebrows up as he tried to think of a response to what she was insinuating. “I – I don’t know –“

“Yes you do. And if you think for one second that people aren’t noticing how weird you’ve been acting, then you’re completely oblivious. You need to cut this out. What you’re doing is threatening the stability that we’ve all worked so hard to uphold. I can’t have you ruining it all with one outspoken idea that enough people will hear. Maybe taking Rachel on this trip will pound it into that deformed mind of yours that you can’t go on acting this way. If you do, then I might have to make arrangements to send you somewhere else. Completely by yourself. You wouldn’t like that, would you? Because even here, you can pretend that other people feel the same as you do. But without anyone else around you, there’s no hope. You might as well die…” She sat back in her chair again. “I’m giving you a choice, Blaine Anderson. Either snap out of it, or die alone, where nobody will care what happens to you.”

She knew she had won. “I’ll let you take her to the Reservation. Maybe the sights you see there will be enough to convince you that this is the world for you.”
Blaine nodded in defeat, but the look he gave her as he stood up was still one of defiance. “We’ll see,” he said as he grabbed the permits she freshly signed for him from her hands. She grabbed his wrist before he got away.
“Don’t forget what I said,” and she let go. She stared at her desk as he walked from the room and let the door slam behind him. The thud was resounding, but she knew that she had gotten under his skin.

He shook his head, trying to rid the memory from his mind. He couldn’t face it, if her threat was real. He had the smallest trace of a feeling that she could have been bluffing, but still. He really thought he was trying.

His phone rang from his pocket and he took it out to see who was calling. The Warden frowned at him, but Blaine mouthed "Sorry, I have to take this," and walked over to an area about 20 feet away to where he could answer. It was Wes.

“Hey Wes, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Blaine, you’re not going to want to hear this, but someone has to tell you, and I figure it better be one of your friends,” came the voice on the other end. Wes sounded harried, like he was running around somewhere and stressed out.

Blaine glanced around and dropped his voice. “What is it?”

“There’s talk of the Director making arrangements to send somebody to Iceland. Tell me Blaine, did you say something to her that would make you a target for something like this?”

“Shit,” said Blaine. “Shit, shit, shit. Damn it, I didn’t think that she would actually do it!” Blaine groaned in exasperation.

“Damn, Blaine! What did you do?” Wes was frantic. Blaine could hear him shouting orders to someone else on the other end.

“I didn’t do or say anything! She guessed things herself, and she threatened me! But she gave me a choice, and I chose to play it safe. I don’t get it!”

“Blaine, listen to me.” Wes’ voice sounded calmer than before. He had some sort of plan up his sleeve, Blaine could tell. “I’m going to do some digging around. See if I can find any dirt on anybody before you get back. Any news that’s big enough to keep you from being shipped off to Iceland.”

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, man. I hope you can find something. I don’t know how I’d be able to repay you.”

Wes laughed a little. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not having my best friend be shipped off to isolation. Not on my watch. Listen, I have to go now, to start finding things I can use. Just whatever you do, don’t do anything that would worsen your situation.” He hung up with a click, and then all Blaine heard was the dial tone. He ran a hand over his gelled hair to pull back any flyaways, and headed back to where the Warden was just finishing his speech about the rules to Rachel.

“I’m sorry, what did I miss?” he asked Rachel as they followed the older man to the vehicle that waited for them at the end of the landing strip.

“Not much, really. They weren’t really rules. He was just explaining to me why the tour was moved to a different location on the Reservation. The school that we were supposed to visit is being—I think the word he used was “fumigated”—for bugs or something. I guess that they still have sickness and pests here.” She shuddered at the thought of running into something like that on their visit. “Anyways, we’re now going to a place called Westerville, which is two hours away by this thing he’s taking us in.” She grimaced at the sight of the dumpy truck in front of them. It was old and the paint was peeling and rusted. But it still ran, because the Warden was already inside and had started it up. The engine sounded fine, so Blaine supposed it was safe to travel in.

“Is this what people drive around here?” he asked the Warden. He was met with an unwaveringly cold stare.

“What do you think, boy?”

Blaine threw his hands up in mock surrender and got in the back seat with Rachel. The seats weren’t luxurious leather, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. He hoped that they would get there soon so that the discomfort caused by being in this close of proximity to the Warden could be taken care of.

-O-

The drive was far too long, compared to the short trips that Blaine and Rachel were used to in the vehicles from the World State. Blaine was pretty sure his leg had fallen asleep sometime about an hour ago. He couldn’t wait to get out of the cramped truck so he could stand up and stretch out. Rachel was getting cranky, asking every five or ten minutes for the last half hour “Are we there yet?” Every time she did so she earned a glare from the Warden through the rearview mirror and shut up until the next time she asked.

Eventually, they pulled up to a grand expanse of a building that sprawled over a giant length of a green lawn that was impeccably kept. Trees dotted the driveway and their branches grazed the roof of the truck as it drove by on the gravel road. Blaine could hardly contain his awe at how beautiful it all was. On the other hand, Rachel was complaining about how bumpy the road was and how she was sure that she was going to have to see a stress therapist when they got back from the trip.

The truck stopped right outside the stairway that served as the main entrance to the building. They got out and Blaine finally had the opportunity to stretch his sore muscles from the position he was sitting in. It was then that he got a full look at how brilliantly designed the place was.

“Now you said this is a school?” asked Rachel. The Warden nodded. “It absolutely is, missy. Dalton Academy for Men.”

She stood up straighter, finally taking in the full sight of it. “But it’s so different looking than anything I’ve ever seen. Why are there so many details?”

The Warden shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s just the way it was built. Now come on and follow me. We’re going inside to see some of the students.”

-O-

Inside was even better than the outside, Blaine thought, if that was at all possible. Every little corner of each room seemed to have some sort of purpose, whether it was decorative or not. He went through, following Rachel and the Warden in an open-mouthed bewilderment because he didn’t understand why there wasn’t such beautiful things in the World that he knew.

They went down a marble staircase that curved to the left, and Blaine lingered on the steps for a moment, tracing the banister with a ghost of a touch, trying to memorize the swoop of the stone and its cool touch.

“Excuse me,” said a voice. Blaine turned around and glanced up and into the face of a man so beautiful, so different than what he’s ever seen; it made him forget about the building for a second.

“I – uh – what?” he stammered. Who was this guy and why was he talking to him? He had to live here on the Reservation.

“I said, excuse me.” His tone now had a bit more bite to it, since he wasn’t getting the response he was looking for. “Do you know where I’m supposed to go? I’m new here.” Blaine looked up and down at the man standing in front of him. His uniform matched that of every other man he saw walking around in the halls: a navy blue blazer with red piping and grey slacks. The pocket was embellished with an ornate looking “D” in red stitching, his necktie was striped red and navy blue, and the shoes that he wore were freshly shined,.

“You don’t look new,” said Blaine finally.

The man rolled his eyes. “Of course I don’t. I’m wearing a uniform. Although I should be asking you why you’re not wearing yours.” He looked at Blaine, expecting an answer.

Blaine looked around to see where Rachel and the Warden were, but they had already moved on and out of sight.
“Oh no, I’m not – I don’t go here. I’m just visiting,” he said to clear things up. “I’m Blaine though.” He held out his hand for the man to shake it.

“I’m Kurt.” Kurt took his hand and shook it politely. “Then where are you visiting from?”

“New York,” said Blaine simply with a smile.

The color drained from Kurt’s face. “Oh,” he said with a whooshing breath and turned to leave.

Blaine grabbed his wrist. “Hey, what’s wrong? Did I say something to upset you? Don’t leave.”

Kurt turned around again. “It’s nothing. I just – that caught me off guard.” He took a shaky breath. “So, you’re one of them.”

Blaine frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kurt tilted his head to the side, as if his statement was something completely normal and not offending. “That you’re from the Outside. I’m sorry – I – I’ve just never met anyone from the Outside before that actually talked to me like a human being.”

Blaine’s frown deepened. “Well, that’s what you are, aren’t you? You’re just like everybody else.”

Kurt shook his head sadly. “Nobody else seems to think so.”

Blaine was confused. “Uh, what?”

Kurt glanced around the staircase, which was filling with students on their way to class. “Listen, can we take this somewhere else? Somewhere not so crowded? I don’t really want to talk about it here.”

Blaine followed him into an empty common room complete with plush chairs and large tables. Kurt sat down in one of the chairs and gestured for Blaine to join him at the table.

“People…don’t accept me here,” said Kurt finally. “They think I’m unnatural.”

“Well, why?” asked Blaine. He kind of knew the feeling, but he was curious as to why someone on a Reservation could feel out of place. Especially someone whose beauty far exceeded that of anything Blaine has ever seen. Kurt seemed to just fit in with everything here, because he was so different to everything that Blaine knew in the World outside of this.

“I – I don’t like girls.” Kurt wouldn’t look Blaine in the eye because he was afraid of the response his confession would receive. Despite the sincerity that exuded from Blaine, he was still never too sure since every other person that he’s encountered from the Outside never gave him so much as a second glance. They already considered him unnatural because he was born from two human beings instead of in a lab from a test tube. They didn’t care.

What he didn’t expect was for Blaine to gently take a hold of his chin and tip it upward to look Blaine in the eyes. And oh, he didn’t notice before how much they looked like caramel. Or how genuine he came across in his eyes.

“That, by no means, is not unnatural,” said Blaine. “I don’t like girls either.” He took in Kurt’s shocked expression. “What, did I say something wrong?”

Kurt raised his eyebrows. “No, it’s just that – you’re allowed to like other boys where you’re from? Like, people don’t hate you for it?”

“Absolutely. Wait Kurt, what do you mean by hate? Did people do something to you?” Blaine took one of Kurt’s hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Kurt looked down again. “Yeah, they um – they pushed me into lockers and beat me up and stuff. They’ve called me horrible things. They’ve even called me a – a –fag.” Blaine could hardly hear the word that Kurt whispered.

“I don’t know what that means…” said a confused Blaine.

“It’s a slur. A hateful word that people throw around because it means that I’m worthless.” Kurt sneered at his own words.

“You’re not worthless,” said Blaine. “Really, you’re not. I don’t know what I was expecting when I came here, but I’ve never encountered anyone like you before. You’re different than what I know, in a good way, and I
don’t like how unhappy you are.”

“That’s why I transferred here,” Kurt said. “The bullying got so bad at my old school, my dad transferred me here, where it would hopefully be better.” He looked at Blaine, then realized his mistake.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that word,” he said quickly.

“What word?”

“…Dad. But you didn’t flinch. How odd,” Kurt mused.

How odd, indeed, thought Blaine. “I guess I just didn’t notice it,” he said aloud. “Maybe it just doesn’t bother me like it does everyone else.”

Kurt sat there pondering something for a moment. Then, suddenly, “I want to go with you when you go back home.”

Blaine was clearly surprised. “I – you – what?”

“I want to live in the Outside world,” Kurt said slowly, as if he made perfect sense the first time.

“But why?” Blaine wasn’t following.

“I hate the Reservation. They don’t let me do things I want to here. I tried liking girls, I really did. I just can’t. And I don’t feel like I can live any longer if the bullying and name calling and the shoving and I really just can’t take it anymore!” Kurt had risen up out of his chair and shouting now. “I just want out.”

Blaine nodded. “I…I’ll see what I can do.” But then the moment was interrupted by his phone ringing again. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Wes again. “I’m sorry, I have to answer this. I’m sorry,” he repeated.

He answered the phone an retreated to a corner of the room, quietly talking to Wes. “Hey, did you find anything useful?”

Wes’ voice was brimming with excitement. “You’ll never believe what I found out about one Quinn Fabray. You don’t have to worry about being sent out of here anytime soon. Anytime at all, actually. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Hold up, what is this big secret?” Blaine was itching to know—surely Quinn couldn’t be hiding something big enough to clear Blaine’s name, but as Wes was telling him the details, Blaine’s hope rekindled. He glanced over to the table where Kurt had sat back down with his head rested on the table, clearly in defeat from his whole situation.

As soon as he finished up talking to Wes (he had hastily ended the conversation because an idea was growing on him, and he needed to talk about it), he turned to Kurt and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“You know what, Kurt? I think I can actually do something about that after all.”