Blaine’s not in the habit of smuggling people out, so he doesn’t. Instead, he asks for Kurt to be released so that they can make a case in front of Blaine’s parents.

Kurt and Blaine are standing before them in the throne room.

“So you believe to be from another world and my son wants to help you find a way home?” the king asks.

“Yes, sire,” Kurt says with three quick bows. He’s very familiar with Daltonian customs, since he’s ‘read all about it in The Cooper Chronicles’.

“Blaine,” the queen starts, “Do you believe Kurt?”

Does he? It’s hard to say. He can believe that Kurt is from a different world. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but from all the things that Kurt’s said, it is the most sensible conclusion. But Blaine also cannot wrap his head around the idea that Daltonia is a work of fiction. Blaine’s real. Everything around him is definitely real.

He and Kurt did decide to keep that part secret from the king and queen. If Kurt were to tell them about The Cooper Chronicles, they might lock him up immediately without further assessment.

“I believe that Kurt wants to go home to his, uh, kingdom, and I want to help him find a way,” Blaine answers, “And if that is another world, then… Well… Who knows?”

“If I may, your highness. The Pink Dagger has already shown that time is flexible and bendable. I think the existence of another worlds fits right next to that,” Kurt adds.

“You speak of another world, completely separate from Daltonia, and yet you know Daltonia’s history,” the king states, “How so?”

“The people in my world are aware of yours. We just didn’t know it was possible to travel here,” Kurt says smoothly.

“If so, then tell me, Kurt of…”

“New York,” Kurt supplies.

“Kurt of the New York kingdom. If there is another world where people have an abundance of knowledge about Daltonia, then you must know the true name of the Pink Dagger.”

It falls silent.

No one apart from the Royal family and the court knows that name, since they kept it secret out of respect to the Pink Dagger’s family. The Pink Dagger may have gone off the rails, and that was already painful enough for his family, so the Royal family didn’t want to add salt to the wound by publicly unveiling his identity.

“Sandrius Ryerson the Fifth,” Kurt answers without any hesitation.

The silence stretches out, but now it’s a stunned silence. Kurt is right.

“Very well,” the queen is the first to speak, “I do not know if this necessarily proves the existence of another world, but it does make me believe that Kurt knows enough about Daltonia to traverse it.”

The king agrees.

“Yes. There is something peculiar going on,” he says.

Blaine lets out a relieved sigh. Great. Now Kurt can find a way home. If Cooper and Arasha are still around, then Cooper can do his Chosen One spiel and help Kurt.

But then the king says that Cooper and Arasha have already left to follow-up on their quest about the cave up north.

And then the queen drops another bombshell.

“Blaine, would you like to accompany Kurt?” the queen asks him.

Everyone’s eyes land on Blaine.

“Me?” Blaine asks.

“Yes, you.”

“But… why?” Blaine asks.

Blaine isn’t some hero. He likes his castle and his tower and his potions. He’s still working on finding his Passion. He doesn’t have to leave now, does he?

“Your potions have healed Kurt in an extraordinary way,” his mother explains.

“But Cooper has healing powers,” Blaine says back.

“Yes, but Cooper is only one man. He shouldn’t have to carry the burdens of our world on his own. Arasha, Javier and Mel help as much as they can, but they don’t have Cooper’s powers. They’re not Royal.”

Is this because his mother feels better if someone else with magic is around? Blaine knows that as the second queen, she doesn’t have the powers. Neither did the first queen, Cooper’s mother. The Royal bloodline comes from king Devon, who got it from his mother. And now he’s passed it on to Cooper and Blaine, making Blaine’s mother the only non-magical Royal. She knows what it is like to be around magic without being able to use it, and she’s grown reliant on her family’s magic.

Or is Blaine all wrong and is there another reason?

“And Cooper and his friends aren’t here. They might be gone for a long while, and I think Kurt really wants to go home. You are here, Blaine.”

“Blaine should be finding his Passion, dearest,” the king says.

“He can while he’s out in the world, practising alchemy in the field instead of in his tower. And maybe he finds his Passion elsewhere!”

“I… uh…”

“Blaine,” Kurt says, pulling him out of his thoughts, “I would feel safer if you were to join me. You know the most about the situation.”

Blaine knows about The Cooper Chronicles.

And not only that, but Kurt looks desperate. He wants Blaine to come along.

So even though it is an idiotic move, Blaine agrees.

Blaine is in his tower with his mother. They’re packing for Blaine’s big adventure. There’s plenty of clothes and food. Blaine also uses his magic to shrink his potion brewing set, so that he can travel with it.

He looks around his tower. What else does he need? Does he need to bring some stories to read while on the road? What does Cooper do when he’s busy being the Chosen One?

Blaine’s nervous and his mother notices.

“Come here, dear,” she opens her arms and Blaine allows the hug. He loves his mother’s hugs and snuggles against her.

“Mother, am I cut out for this?” he asks her.

“You must give yourself more credit, Blaine.”

“But I have never done something like this before. Cooper has the All Power, not me.”

“You don’t need the All Power to be great, my son.”

Blaine knows that. Cooper’s the only one with the All Power, and he certainly isn’t the only great person in the world.

“And I think it is time for you to go out and see the world. You’re always in this tower. Even your friends visit you instead of the other way around. And I think that is the thing preventing you from finding your Passion.”

The door opens and the king is there.

“Everyone’s ready. Good luck, my boy,” he says.

It’s time for Blaine to go.