It was like everything happened in slow motion. 

Kurt fell off the balcony and the air rushed up around him. He breathed out as he looked up at the window, waiting waiting waiting...

And then he felt doubt. What if Blaine didn't get to him in time? What if this didn't work? Oh god, he'd snap his neck. He should have at least attempted to land on his feet because in case this didn't work he could maybe crawl with broken legs to the lighthouse door and unlatch it so Blaine could get out and FUCK why hadn't he jumped closer to the door and WHY WAS THIS ALL JUST OCCURRING TO HIM NOW?

His world spun and he saw something tearing through the trees and oh right he'd forgotten about Marley well shit this was going to suck if he really did die.

And then he was looking back towards the balcony and there was Blaine, falling towards him, headfirst, arms outstretched and oh god this just might work--

Blaine's arms grabbed around his waist and they pressed against the side of the lighthouse before Blaine kicked off it, just six feet from the ground and then they were flying through the air, Marley running in the opposite direction below them.

They landed in a pine tree and Blaine set Kurt down on one of the sturdier branches. His eyes were black and livid. "Kurt."

"Yes?"

"Never do that again."

"But I told--" Blaine pressed a finger to his lips.

"Never. Do. That. Again. Promise. Me. Now."

Kurt kissed his finger. "I promise."

"I love you," Blaine breathed, cupping his face and leaning in close.

The tree lurched and Kurt was thrown off. He grabbed out with his hand and caught a branch before it slipped out of his grasp and he reached for another, all the while getting the barest glimpses of what was happening--Marley ripped out part of the tree. Blaine was in the air. One of Marley's tentacles grabbed Blaine's leg. They both hit the ground.

Kurt managed to grab a branch with both hands and hung for a second before it snapped under his weight and he fell the extra ten feet to the ground. 

Landing on his side hard, he rolled over as he felt something crack along his side. He looked down at the drops of blood that was suddenly everywhere in the snow, panicking. But it wasn't from him, it was... He leaned closer to look. Berries. 

He glanced down at the snapped branch still in his hand, at the familiar dark green leaves, then looked up at the neighboring tree to the pine, the one that he'd crashed into.

"Hawthorn," he whispered. 

The fight carried on but it was mostly a blur. He saw a random arm and a tentacle at one point but he couldn't really make out anything. Glancing up at the lighthouse, he froze in horror. 

There was a gaping hole in the balcony and window where Blaine had crashed through. Even if they were able to get Marley inside, she'd be able to escape within seconds.

Which meant they desperately needed a Plan B.

There was a crack and a yell and Kurt looked back towards the fight. Blaine lost an arm. Marley had lost three of her four tentacles. The remaining snuck up behind him and he was suddenly grabbed around the waist before hurled into the ocean.

In a blink Marley was right in front of him, eyes wide and grin feral. "Hello, Kurt," she purred. "Your grandmother says hi, by the way." 

"You..." Kurt breathed out. "You..."

"She was old and bitter, but well worth it for that look on your face," she giggled.

Kurt blinked and things became suddenly clear. He put on a tortured expression and clutched his neck, pleading, "Please don't drink from me again! Please, I couldn't bear it!"

Marley laughed and grabbed his wrist, wrenching it away from his neck and sinking her teeth into his wound, chomping down. "You know," she said around his neck as she viciously tore through tendons in his neck, doing more damage than needed. "You're the last of Charlotte's heirs. They're all dead now, along with her name. Along with her memory. And let me tell you Kurt..." She took another long and greedy gulp. "Revenge has never tasted so sweet."

"Really?" Kurt rasped out. "Dead man's blood is sweet to you?"

Marley froze against him before pulling back sharply, eyes wide. She doubled over suddenly, black bile shooting from her mouth.

"I figured you wouldn't smell it," Kurt murmured blearily. "You've been around it for nearly a century so you wouldn't notice it at first." He leaned over and picked up the hawthorn branch. "But just incase you've built up some sort of fucking immunity..." He raised the branch over his head and drove it through Marley's keeled over back. He ripped it out and did it again, the second time managing to sever the tentacle, then again, then again, then a last time and he left it there as she lay facedown in the snow, black liquids spewing everywhere.

Kurt stumbled away, legs shaky and neck numb with pain. He tipped backwards and Blaine caught up.

"Kurt? Kurt, what did you do?"

"See?" Kurt slurred with a smile. "Told you you'd always catch me."

"Kurt, why did you do that? You know I can't heal you!" Blaine said desperately, trying to hold Kurt so that he wasn't hurting him, but they were sort of beyond that point.  

"Wanted..." Kurt mumbled. "Wanted...to stop her...and...and..."

"And?"

"Want...to...live..."

And then everything went black.

***

There were flashs.

Light.

Sound.

...gardenias?

Pain.

Lots of talking.

Loud noise.

Silence.

Singing?

"You brought me to light..."

Was someone sad?

"No regrets, just love."

Blaine?

"We can dance until we die... you and I will be young forever..."

And then darkness again.

***

He awoke to white.

Kurt blinked and stared at the white ceiling. Then over at the white nightstand. Then down at his white bed and white blankets and white outfit. White machines monitoring his heart. 

A hospital. He was in a hospital. 

He looked over at his bedside table. Gardenias. A bowl full of them. He felt a smile stretch his lips. 

There was movement in the room and he looked over eagerly.

It wasn't Blaine. It was Edmond, and he looked like he'd aged twenty years. "Mr. Hummel," he breathed, standing and walking over to Kurt's bedside. "You're awake."  

"Edmond," Kurt murmured, licking his dry lips. "What..."

"I have regrettable news about Mrs. Blanc," Edmond said quietly. "I found her dead last night. The doctors say that it was probably her condition..."

Kurt nodded, blinking back tears. There'd never been great love between him and his grandmother, but he hadn't wanted her dead and he especially hadn't wanted Marley to kill her. 

"Which makes you the sole inheritor of Blanc Manor and all acquired estates," Edmond continued. "There will be a will reading and everything. Plus you'll need to find a legal guardian over eighteen."

"Okay," Kurt nodded softly as the nurse walked in. "I think I already know who that will be."

"Mr. Hummel!" she smiled. "Good to see you pull through!"

He smiled painfully as she looked over his machinery. "Um...I had a friend here? He brought me here..."

"Mr. Anderson?" she asked, and Kurt nodded. "Yes, he was here earlier. Said you got into a swimming accident? And were mauled by a rabid octopus?"

Kurt looked down at the large sucker marks on his arms and what he could see of his chest. "That's one way of putting it."

"We were all very glad to see you pull through though, Mr. Hummel," the nurse went on with a smile. "There were about a dozen deaths last night and we couldn't save any of them. We were glad to be able to save you. And Mr. Anderson was extremely relieved as well. He kept worrying that he'd have to make contingency plans."

Contingency plans. Kurt stared down at his hands. If he hadn't made it, Blaine would've tried to turn him. He cleared this throat. "Um...what happened to him? Do you know if he went home?"

The nurse shrugged. "I think so. He said something like you didn't need him anymore so he'd just go. He left a little before midday."

Kurt froze, looking up at her. "Midday?"

"Yeah," the nurse nodded. "Left your window open too even though I told him not to open it. The room was half-filled with smoke before I could close it."

"Smoke?" Kurt asked, heart racing.

The nurse rolled her eyes. "It was probably just some of the high school boys pulling a prank again. It looks they dropped something burning off the roof for kicks and it fell into the hawthorn tree outside of you window and burned the top halves of the branches."

Kurt shook in his bed, blinking back tears.

"Oh!" The nurse said, digging around in the bag she brought. "That reminds me. Next time you see Mr. Anderson, would you give this to him? He was wearing it earlier and we found it under the tree. He probably forgot it on your windowsill and it just fell down..."

Kurt took the item of clothing from her, finally feeling the tears overflow at the sight of the slightly burnt around the edges, but otherwise still intact and completely utterly perfect lobster cardigan.

He pressed it to his chest as the sobs overtook him.

***

He was in the hospital for three days but it felt like an eternity. He had a will read to him. As well as a reassigning of property that may as well have been a will.

His grandmother's was simple. Cut and dry. He owned Blanc Manor and the grounds and all the contents it possessed. 

Blaine's documents were a bit more...messy. Well, he'd left a note for Kurt. In it, stating that he wanted to give Kurt everything to insure that he could lead the most capable life that he was able, the world at his fingertips. That he no longer needed his help, but could thrive on his own.

At the very end, it read, "Sweet dreams, Kurt. Even if I won't be in them anymore."

Kurt received Anderson Manor, all of its contents, and the surrounding grounds.

He didn't want any of it.

Edmond was a saint and stayed with him most of the time, claiming that he was the last remainder of the Blanc name and he had to at least stay for that. At one point, his niece Rachel, who lived further down the cape, came by to offer vegan banana walnut bread which Kurt had accepted with a forced smile.

It was the day that he checked out that Edmond broached the subject. 

"Mr. Hummel...by the end of this week, you're going to need to choose a legal guardian to take care of you," he said gently.

Kurt nodded softly. He was wearing Blaine's cardigan, like he had been all week.

"And...I know this is a troubling time for you, but I had spoken with you grandmother about what would happen if she'd die before you turned eighteen, and no legal papers were drawn up, but she did say that Blanc Manor would be best under my care since I've ran it these past two decades and--"

"Sure. Fine," Kurt said hoarsely. "Draw up the legal papers or whatever. In fact, you can have it all if you want."

"No, Mr. Hummel," Edmond said hurriedly. "That's your inheritance--"

"And I don't want it," Kurt whispered, sniffling. "Just have the papers drawn up."

***

Rachel came later when Edmond returned and she prattled on and on about how great it was that they were going to be friends and basically cousins now and Kurt just nodded and didn't really pay attention as he looked over the papers and picked up the heavy pen to sign everything over to Edmond Berry.

He winced as he accidentally moved his neck the wrong way and felt part of the wound open again. "Shit," he muttered, pressing his fingers against the gauze still there and a couple drops of blood fell onto the documents. 

Edmond called a nurse in and she changed his gauze as Kurt looked down at the blood. It reminded him of the blood he'd seen when he'd fallen from the tree. He frowned. No, that hadn't been blood, those had been berries--

"That's why they lined the inside with hawthorn. It's their own insignia..."

 "But I thought you said that only vampires had them?"

"I think they thought they were being clever or something. Because, you know, when flowers die, they often turn into--"

Kurt stared at the blood. 

Fruit. Flowers turned into fruit when they died. And hawthorn flowers turned into hawthorn--

"Berries," Kurt whispered as he looked back up at Edmond and Rachel.

The Berry's were the family of hunters.

And he was about to sign Blaine's entire estate over to them.

"Get out," he said quietly.

Edmond looked up at him in surprise. "Kurt?"

"Get. Out," he repeated, staring up at him. "You're fired. And it's Mr. Hummel to you."

Rachel stood also. "Kurt, what's wrong?"

"No matter how hard you or your family tries," Kurt said slowly and clearly. "You're never going to get you hands on the Blanc or Anderson estates so stop trying." His eyes shot to Rachel. "I know that your great-grandfather tried when he attempted to marry my great-grandmother. It didn't work then and it most certainly won't work now." He tore up the adoption papers. "And there's no way in hell that I'm letting you get Blaine's house."

Edmond's face turned dark. "I've lived in that house for twenty years."

"Hoping that my grandmother would make you an inheritor?" Kurt snapped. "Or was there another reason? My mother told me that you started working there when she was a junior in high school. Hoping to make up for you grandfather's failings and just marry my mother instead?"

Edmond flinched and Kurt gave him a humorless smile.

"Get out of my room before I call the nurse back."

Edmond stood swiftly and grabbed his briefcase. "Come, Rachel." Rachel followed him out, shooting Kurt a disdainful look as the door slammed shut.

Kurt breathed out slowly as he leaned against his bed, clutching the sleeves of his cardigan tightly.

***

Blanc Manor felt cold and empty. He stood in the doorway of the silent house later that night and sighed, the sound swallowed in the stillness around him. 

Home sweet home.

He walked through the dark empty halls up to his room, feeling the familiar pangs of grief strike him again and the walk seemed to take eight years, but finally he was in his bedroom again. He fell into bed immediately, eyes still watery from earlier. His bed smelled like gardenias. 

"Sweet dreams, Kurt. Even if I won't be in them anymore."

"You idiot," Kurt cried quietly into his pillow, burrowing his hands underneath it. "Of course you will be."

He paused as his fingers hit something underneath his pillow and he pulled out an envelope. Leaning over, he flicked on his lamp and saw his name written in cursive on the front. He tore it open and sat on his bed, reading it.

Dearest Kurt,

I felt that I should leave something more substantial than that reassigning of land. I do hope you like the manor though, despite some of the tumultuous times that we spent there.

(Feel free to give the land with the well away. Or, better yet, burn it to the ground)

I heard about your grandmother and I'm so very sorry. I know that losing two won't sit very well with you, but I know that you're a fighter and I know that you desperately want to live.

Hang on to that, Kurt. Hang on to that feeling because you're going to need it. You're going to face things in this life that will terrify and shock you, but just hold on to that feeling and you should be fine. 

I burned Marley, don't worry. She's gone for good. 

If you need any help, Mike will be of assistance. He's a good friend.

And I'm so so incredibly sorry, Kurt. I honestly didn't know that I meant this much to you, considering that if you're at this point in the letter, you haven't look up yet to see the amazingly creepy and incredibly smitten vampire hanging from your window ledge and staring in at you as you're (probably) crying.

Kurt's head snapped up and he cried out, falling off his bed.

Blaine was staring at him from just outside his window, a half-sheepish half-guilty smile on his face.

Kurt lurched over to the window and slammed it up. "You scared me half to death!" he snapped. It was supposed to come out as admonishing, but it carried a sob.

"I'm sorry, I keep doing that," Blaine said, honestly regretful. "And I'm sorry for the whole death thing. The hunters were in town and--"

"The Berry's, I know," Kurt sighed.

"So I just threw Marley's burning corpse into the tree and hid under your hospital bed for a while."

"Blaine."

"Yes?"

"Never do that again."

Blaine suppressed a smirk. "But I told--" Kurt put a finger against his lips.

"Never. Do. That. Again. Promise. Me. Now."

Blaine smiled and kissed his finger. "I promise."

"I hate you."

Blaine blinked at him. "Well, fuck."

"And I love you."

Blaine face split into a smile. "That's better."

Kurt rolled his eyes as he sniffled. "What are you still doing out there?"

"Waiting for invitation from the new owner of Blanc Manor," Blaine shrugged awkwardly, considering he was hanging from one arm.

"You had an invitation into this room nine years ago," Kurt rolled his eyes.

"But that was from a half-delirious eight-year-old," Blaine said firmly. "I'd rather have an updated version. That is," he added sheepishly. "If you'll have me."

Kurt wiped his eyes and smiled. "It's cold outside," he said quietly before holding out his hand in invitation. "Won't you come in?"

.

The end.