And…. one more chapter after this and its done.

Again, I rushed to get this one out since its late, so I apologize for any major grammatical errors, redundancies, stupidities, and otherwise bone-headed mistakes I probably made. I would like to dedicate this chapter to my dog, Worf, who is awesome. Seriously, my dog is the shit. He probably has cancer (not that I can get a clear diagnosis from the vets up here since all theyre used to is sticking hands up cow asses all day and cant do a biopsy for the life of them), but hes tough as hell and still my puppy.

Also… yay holidays! One of the few times of year when being a teacher really pays off.

His mind was a blur of could-of-beens and regrets. For the entirety of their short relationship, Kurt had been focusing on the day-to-day joys of being with Blaine, but now, as he rushed towards the building he had been directed to, images filled his mind. Unwrapping presents as they sat beside a Christmas tree with his family around them both. Lazy mornings spent in bed with sunlight draping over them both from a window. Presenting his dad with his first grandchild that had black curly locks of hair. Pulling away a sold sign on a little house on a boulevard, great old trees separating them from the street and embracing before they went to collect boxes from a moving van. All these little scenes dropped into his mind like rain as he moved ahead, so focused on saving his father that he was only now considering the predicament he had not only put himself into, but also Blaine and the rest of the group.

He had exposed them all, or at least implicated them. He had allowed Blaine to come with him and as they moved closer to the brown building at the end of the road, the thoughts of what could have been were replaced with thoughts of what could happen. Worst case scenarios that made him regret eating ice cream cake for breakfast the way it was rising up his esophagus mixed with the bile from his belly. The absolute worst, the thing that he kept trying to push out of his mind, was that hed fail in trying to help his father and somehow in the process, Blaine would end up dead too. There was nothing he could think of that could possibly sicken him more than that - especially if he lived through it to have to see it.

Regardless of that all, Kurt still moved ahead. Blaine followed him with loyalty even a dog would be hard pressed to commit to, and never questioning Kurts need to rise to action. This was no way for him to be spending his birthday, but then again, Kurts last birthday had been spent in the compound, with no one even aware of it passing for it to be celebrated. At the time, Kurt was glad of it. He didnt have his dad to celebrate it with him after all, and he knew he couldnt ask for anything given the situation, but now he wished that Blaine at least knew. There was something important about knowing the birthday of your boyfriend.

"Looks like theres a back entrance Kurt."

He nodded to Blaines observation, still looking ahead. They had no idea if there was anyone watching the perimeter, how many metahumans theyd be up against, or what kind of powers they would be squaring off against. What Kurt could see was the bodies of men and women in uniform, laying lifeless around the building they had probably been guarding before the attack. How many times was Kurt going to have to face death? When would it become easier to see? To smell? To understand?

"You should stay back here."

"To do what?" Blaine scoffed, feet hitting the pavement harder than Kurts own as they ran - since he needed to run harder to keep up with Kurts longer legs and lighter body. "Watch you fight who knows what from afar? You know I wont Kurt. No more than you would if our roles were reversed."

"If our roles were reversed Id still want you to stay back while I fought for you."

They slowed as they got closer, edging around the buildings so they could come up on the back entrance from the alleyway. If they had any luck at all they wouldnt be seen until they were in.

"Im going with you, come hell or high water."

He sighed, and looked back long enough to give Blaine a nod. He shouldnt have let himself get so emotionally tied up in black curls, big eyebrows, and amber eyes. It would have been easier. He would have been able to think more rationally.

But if he had to go back in time? To tell his year younger self what was coming? He knew it wouldnt make a difference. No one could tell Kurt what to feel or not to, and his heart had been head over heels in love with Blaine long before his head even realized it. His younger self probably would have just been amazed that someone would be interested enough in him to want to be with him. A fact that still gave Kurt pause.

As they reached the building, they dropped down, creeping on bent knees to the back door. Inside Kurt could hear voices. He sometimes wondered if others could hear like he did, if the noise coming into his ears was for him alone or if Blaine could pick it up too. Everything sounded the same to him so he was never sure if it was his normal hearing or the hearing that came with his especially attuned senses.

"Kurt.. before we…"

He silenced Blaines words with a finger to his lips. He knew what Blaine was going to say. Hell, knowing how sentimental Blaine could be, Kurt was surprised he didnt anticipate it before hand. It was, however, one of those things that didnt need to be said. He knew, just as much as he was sure Blaine knew how he felt without having to verbalize it. Just because some things werent spoken aloud, didnt mean they didnt exist.

Kurt pushed in a little on the door, cringing up his spine as it squeaked with the small movement. The back door opened up into a kitchenette, which looked unattended. No doubt the metahumans who had instigated this attack though that they had cleared out the military resistance and were safe with their barrier protecting them. He wondered if they knew that it had been taken down. Kurt reminded himself not to get overconfident. The last time he had rushed in being so sure of himself, he had been grounded and his feathers had come in black when they did regrow. It was a lesson he had told himself he wouldnt forget, and now was the perfect time to remember to ensure he was careful about his approach.

They snuck in, still on their knees to avoid being seen from the windows on the doors leading into the kitchen from further into the building. The voices were clearer now, enough that Kurt could make out the words and Blaines head perked up as he looked towards the source of them.

"I refuse to agree to such ridiculous terms!"

"You make a mistake in assuming you have the freedom to agree or disagree Mister President. I am TELLING you how this will play out."

"None of us will abide by it. The people will not -"

"Then they will die and be made examples of."

"History is full of bullies of your type that have found themselves toppled. Victims of their own making."

"And history is also written by the victors. By all accounts, the history of metahumans will speak of how they were bullied by your regime and how they overcame it."

"Not all of the nations have treated metahumans like the United States -"

"You are correct Prime Minister. However, it is an unfortunate reality that the United States sets a precedent. After all, despite being only one of two countries in the world to still use the Imperial system of measurement, other countries end up learning both metric and imperial so they can effectively trade with the United States. It may not be number one in anything, but it is still the loudest of countries, and still sets a model socially for others. Perhaps if your countries had stood up to it before we had to reach this point…"

"We have made progressive policies! You cant tell our people they are to be slaves-"

"Youre right. I wont. You will."

"I refuse."

"Then I will kill you, your family, and anyone else in a position of authority from your country that tries to oppose me - right down to the last person standing."

"Humanity will not be enslaved by monsters!"

"Humanity IS the monster."

Back and forth like that. The same voice from the video recording speaking in opposition to several political leaders. The basis of the conversation was clear to understand: The metahumans intended to turn the tables on humanity by enslaving them under threat of death, and the leaders gathered were trying their best, albeit desperately, to argue back.

They were clearly not making any headway.

"There must be some amicable way for this to end pleasantly." A womans voice suggested with a deep, throaty accent Kurt couldnt place. "Perhaps a territory for metahumans-"

"Yes. Because that worked SO well for the Jewish people." was the snorted, sarcastic rebuttal. "We dont want land anyhow."

"You want respect. Freedoms. Fine. We can -"

"No. I dont want those things either. Not from you. Not when it will have to be forced."

Kurt peeked through the doors, trying to spy in and see if the one metahuman talking was the only one there theyd have to face. If he was, then maybe this would be a lot easier than they had been anticipating. It was hard to make out much of anything in the small slit. Some shadows and a bit of flickering light. It certainly wasnt helpful.

"Well then why cluster us here at all if you intend to take what you want by force? Just to tell us youre going to enslave humanity?"

"Very perceptive… no… I didnt break up your little soiree just to tell you that youll all be working for us soon." There was a pause in the metahumans voice and Kurt nibbled along his lower lip as he tried to see something, anything, through the crack.

Blaine kept crouched beside Kurt, and whenever Kurt looked his way, he could see Blaine trying to communicate silently. Nods of the head towards the door, which Kurt shook his own head in reply to. Shrugging shoulders and arched eyebrows, which Kurt shrugged in return to. He had to be careful. He didnt want to lose his feathers, his chance at saving his dad, and Blaine.

"I came here to make a statement…." The metahuman spoke, his voice becoming clearer and louder, "... youll notice that I dont just have one ability."

"So? No one knows the limits of the metahumans."

"And thats all of your fault. There have been no studies, no research, nothing that has been designed to educate and help my people understand themselves. How can we expect you to understand us if we cant understand ourselves after all?"

"So its about research then?"

"No you dimwit. How did you become the leader of your country? Honestly…."

"Just tell us then. No need to act like a cartoon villain and prolong things."

"I will… just one thing first."

With that, the door was yanked away from Kurt, exposing him and Blaine to the metahuman speaking. He was tall, lanky, and as far from from a cartoon villain as Kurt could imagine. He didnt look like he had any powers to speak of, at least not outwardly. A Star Wars shirt and a pair of thick, black framed glasses made him look more like a fanboy than a criminal. Yet his eyes gave him away. Looking down at Kurt as Kurt and Blaine both stood to face him, there was no concern for them. As he looked down his nose at Kurt, Kurt could see the eyes of someone who was out for himself and himself only.

"I wasnt expecting backup."

"Were not here as backup." Blaine spat, coming up to Kurts side protectively.

"I gathered that."

Behind him, Kurt could now see why the leaders werent fighting back. Each one was bound to chairs arms with handcuffs around a circular table. All eyes were now on them, and Kurts wings, which he fanned out to make himself look bigger than he was.

"You need to let these people go, and stop whatever it is you did to the people you hurt out there."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"And you two are going to make me?"

"If we have to."

Kurt thought it was enough of a threat to at least make the man bat an eyelash, but they were laughed at in return. A sickly, snide noise that made Kurts skin crawl and his spine tense up the length of his back.

"Im not doing anything. Look. At least you two have a choice here."

"Join with you or defy you?" Blaine huffed.

"Exactly."

"Were not helping you." Kurt growled, hands balling into fists as the man turned away from him and walked around behind the leaders. "Youre insane. You think were different from them but were not!"

"Says the only one in here with wings."

"Says the one who just wants his dad to be okay!"

He snapped his teeth together, gritting them as he admonished himself for revealing more than he probably should have in a fit of emotion. The guy acted like they werent even a worry to him, and all it would take would be Kurt opening his lungs enough to scream at the guy and it would all be over…

"Must be nice to have such beautiful wings…." The man uttered plainly, as if what Kurt had just said was of no concern. "... The angelic symbolism… even if they are black…. A lot of superstitious people might see you as a herald from heaven."

"Im not." His nails dug into his palms, sharp and pointed from days of not being filed down. "Im a boy that was ripped away from his family because of something I didnt want but was stuck with. Thats it."

"You could be so much more…." The man looked up from where he paused behind an olive skinned man with sweat beading down his temple. "... and your quieter friend… you ever thought of going into psychology? You could make a fortune…"

"Huh?" Blaine asked, triangular brows bunching up like a furry caterpillar as he looked Kurts way. Confused, Kurt looked back at him and then towards the posturing metahuman once more. He was sure Blaine hadnt revealed anything about his abilities.

"You see emotion." The man supplied, gesturing out with one hand. "The colors of emotion anyhow. Fascinating. As close to telepathy as any metahuman Ive ever met."

"How did you know that?" Kurt snarled, taking a step forward.

"Oh. How rude of me. I forgot our customs. See, normal humans…." He threw an arm out, indicating the tied up politicians, "Usually inform others about what their jobs are when they first meet. Its a major part of their identity… but we, well we tell each other about our gifts."

"You can sense abilities…" Blaine murmured, barely above a whisper and mostly for himself to hear as he sounded out his thoughts. He got a nod in return though, the man hearing him and grinning.

"Not just sense… absorb. Your proximity to me is allowing me to see the fear in these people. Kind of an ugly yellowish color fear is hmm? And your winged friend? Mad. You would think anger would be red given all the symbolism around it, but its actually a mix of several colors… interesting."

"You were on a video.. shooting people down…." Kurt choked out as his brain started running a mile a minute as he flapped his wings out once to make sure the man hadnt somehow stolen them.

"A power I took from one that did not want it."

"What do you mean you took it?"

That ugly, snide smile crossed over the mans mouth, revealing his crooked teeth as he looked towards Blaine to answer his question. "He didnt want to join with me. He wanted to hide. He didnt want his gift, so I took it from him for good."

"How do you do that?"

"Watch…."

The sweating, olive skin politician, whose business suit was buttoned on too tightly, glanced up towards the man hovering by him. There was something about this one, Kurt decided, something that was unlike the rest.

"... I want the world to understand what they risk if they dont let our kind rise above. Its not merely chaotic fires and floods and attacks they risk, but their own existence. These men and women here? They think I wanted to negotiate with them, but I have nothing I want from them… but their deaths. To plunge the world into real chaos. Leaderless nations left to submit to our kind…."

"Youre mad." Kurt said, shaking his head as he looked around the room, wondering if Blaine was seeing as much fear as Kurt could smell off the people in here.

"No. A madman would just bomb them and kill himself in the process. I intend to survive and lead the new era."

"So what? You expect us to stand by and watch you kill them?" Blaine hissed, taking a step forward to, once again, stand beside Kurt. "Thats not going to happen."

"Imagine how the people will look upon me if I not only killed the leaders of their nations, but came out of it with angelic wings and the ability to see their thoughts in colored form?" The man mused aloud, licking his lips over. The whole scene made Kurt shiver with disgust.

"Why the hell are you talking with him! If you can stop him than do it!" One of the woman yelled from the side towards them. The statement was valid. Why were they holding fast when Kurts gut kept telling him to move?

"Because dear… they know that even if they stop me, all they have to look forward to is being shot down by humans. Either way theyll fall and theyre trying to figure out which way is preferable."

The man lifted a hand, sliding his fingers over the few hairs of the politician he was intent on. "Of course, some leaders have been smarter than others. Take Rodriguez here… hiding in plain sight…"

Everyone looked towards the man in question, who had snapped his eyes closed and was praying in rapid spanish. Kurt didnt understand much of the language, but he could tell that the man was asking for something from a god who didnt seem to be involved.

"... a metahuman leader. Oh… he could have been so much more…. but instead he hides, and takes a conservative approach in his own country around metahuman policies. He could have been a leader for our people. Instead he has been another voice that has silenced our own."

Kurt wasnt familiar with the politician, or his country - whatever it was, but looking upon the sweat soaked man, he could see the regret. Kurt could have been like him - binding his wings for all his days, repressing his metahuman side to the point of calling out other metahumans to distract from his own abilities. Could he really judge this man for something he would have done? He didnt know his story, and his motivations. Change could not be made overnight either. Who was to say he hadnt tried to help in small, less obvious steps?

All of those thoughts were for nothing though, and all the questions would be left unanswered, as in one swift stroke, the sinister metahuman sliced a finger across the mans skull, making a stomach twisting squelching noise. The rest of the leaders cried out in shock and anguish, and Kurt made to jump across the table using his wings to lift him over only to have Blaine pull him back by the hand and point at the metahumans fingers, now pointed talons, digging into the opened grey matter on the top of the stiff politicians head. Just as quickly as Rodriguez had been exposed as a metahuman, he had also had his brain exposed.

"Such a wonderful gift he had too… didnt even understand the extent of it…. His shut down of the nuclear program makes such sense when you consider that the man was a nuclear bomb in and of himself…"

As if he didnt have his fingers twisting inside the mans brain, the metahuman continued to talk. Around the table, the world leaders were crying, vomiting over the sides of their chairs, and watching in stunned silence. Kurt connected the pieces of what was being said and his stomach sank for the upteenth time that day. A nuclear bomb contained in a man, a man that was dead and now having his body desecrated by a man that could somehow absorb the powers of others.

"We need to stop him Blaine." Kurt whispered over.

"Sensitive hearing too…" The man looked up, grinning towards the pair as Kurt jerked his head back to look at him with ire. His own powers were being used against him. "I cant wait for the wings to fully grow in…"

Fingers were pulled out from the mess of brain, and the man let out a satisfied sigh, as if he had just eaten a full meal. Kurts talons were now on that man. He had been able to use his hearing to pick up on the whisper, and now, as the man turned purposefully to the side, Kurt could see the tearing in the back of his T-shirt from where little stubs of wings were growing.

"Its temporary for now. Only works while Im around you… Now its up to you whether or not I keep it permanently or not."

"Youre going to blow everyone up…" Blaine interjected.

"Yes. With the power Ive now taken from him I will lay waste to this area as an example of what we are capable of."

"How could you survive that? What about the other metahumans who helped you in?"

"They knew the implications of this mission. As for me… I have absorbed some regeneration abilities. I will survive and become an icon."

Kurts mind continued to race. He looked around at the people encircled around the table. He looked at his boyfriend, trying to talk to the crazed man as if he could stop him with mere words. He looked at the stained glass in the ceiling, depicting a white winged angel carrying a cross, and he looked absently towards the door behind the man whose wings were growing with each passing second, thinking about his father who would become mere dust as a result of the insanity that was about to be committed.

With a twist of his wrist, he freed his hand from Blaines hold, jumping over the table and tackling the man down as Blaine cried out from behind them. Kurt was not intend on just knocking him out though. Once he had a hand on the mans shirt, he sprang up and flapped his wings, smashing through the ceiling window and carrying the man up with him into the sky.

Kurt was sure he heard him cackle, and again his heart fell as he knew he was about to be disappointed in his own actions. Just like the fire, and the trap laid by the police officers, Kurt knew he had acted too impetuously and now, somehow, he would pay for it.

Talons tore at his hand, sprouting seams of blood which made Kurt wince. Instead of letting go though, he held on tighter. A glow began to form on the man, and for a moment Kurt thought he was finally seeing what Blaine saw in others. That is, until he realized that the glow was probably from the worst thing imaginable.

"Let me down or Ill blow you apart here!"

Kurt didnt respond, flying higher and higher. He didnt know what kind of regenerative powers this man had, but with the glow getting brighter, he knew that he had to get him as far away from others as he could.

Yet the man seemed calm, still clawing at Kurt wherever he could hit until Kurt recognized that his nerves were dull and not even processing the pain anymore because his body was instead focused on trying to make do with the blood that hadnt left his body. The air was getting thinner too, and as Kurt looked down to the man, he could see the first bits of panic in his eyes.

"YOU HAVE TO PUT ME DOWN!"

"No."

The glow intensified, surrounding them both. It was beyond being a threat now, and Kurt hissed as the cool air became suddenly hot. The man tried to flap his own, tiny stubs of wings, but they werent big enough yet, and Kurt recognized that he had one shot to make the people he cared about safe from this monster. One shot.

He pushed himself, through the dull pain and the strain on his lungs, to fly higher and higher. The glow got brighter, and then, suddenly, stopped. Glancing down, Kurt saw that the man was passed out, either from the lack of oxygen getting to his more normal lungs, or from the strain of working so hard to free himself. The sensation of burning hadnt ended though, and as Kurt looked back at himself, his eyes grew round and wet as they saw that his wings were on fire. Whatever Kurt had stopped the man from doing to others, he had failed to stop him from doing to himself.

Below, the town they had flown from was a spec, and somewhere within it Kurt knew that Blaine and his dad were there. He knew they were safe, and as his feathers became ash and fell from him, he couldnt help but feel relieved. Instead of fear of his demise as he lost the ability to stay aloft and began to rocket downward, Kurt felt at peace. If there was one thing he had been gifted with, it was that he could save others, and he had never been so thankful for it as he was now, hurtling down to the earth with closed eyes and a smile on his face, clutching the man that made him realize it. With his last breath, he uttered a wish for those he loved, that they would be happy and free, before a jolt went through him as he hit the earth and everything passed into blackness.