Jeff's original estimate of it taking a week to walk back to the community was quickly discarded when it became clear that Kurt couldn't keep up the pace with his injuries.  Karofsky and Santana hadn't found any working vehicles or horses in the first town they had camped at, and so they had travelled from town to town in a jagged path, hoping to find something to quicken their travels for the last leg of the journey.  In this way, one week became two, and two became four.  

At least their travel-mates had gotten over the initial shock of Kurt's background and powers.  Jeff had never been concerned, and had persisted in questioning Kurt much to Kurt's annoyance.  Sam seemed okay with it, and had never said anything concerning, talking as easily to Kurt as he had before they had discovered his link to the Others.  Karofsky took a couple days, but he too warmed back up to Kurt, only reaffirming that Kurt was loyal to the community and not the Others.  Santana took the longest to get over the fact of Kurt's Quarterlingness - ignoring him and shooting him glares for the better part of the week before mumbling a “I'm glad you've been around to keep Brit and Eugene safe.” off to the side as she slowed her walk to come up alongside Blaine and Kurt.  It was the closest Kurt would get to an apology from her and he nodded to her in response. “Of course.  I wouldn't let any harm come to them.”

Kurt really needed to just rest as far as Blaine was concerned.  Pushing himself to walk all day long was obviously inhibiting his body from being able to heal the way it needed to - especially in his legs where the gashes kept reopening as he used his muscles to trudge along, also causing the swelling to remain.  Of course, Kurt would hear nothing of slowing down the group by taking a break for a few days to recuperate.  

So every night, no matter whether they were camping in a village or on the road, Blaine did his best to care for Kurt.  He went out of his way to find water to keep Kurt hydrated and washed up, rebandaged his wounds, and made sure Kurt had a comfortable place to sleep - whether it was a bed, or a nest of dried grass and leaves.  

“I wish you wouldn't fawn over me like I was a baby.”  Kurt sighed as Blaine held out a couple painkillers to him along with a water bottle, as he had every few hours they walked.  

“I'm not Kurt.  I'm just trying to make this trek as easy on you as possible.”

Kurt grumbled to himself, grabbing the pills and swallowing them down with a quick swig of water before handing the bottle back to Blaine.  “You won't even leave me alone to take a piss.”

Blaine looked off to the side as they continued walking, knowing he was guilty of that.  “I just… “

“You just what?  Like seeing my dick out?  Are worried I'm plotting some evil Other business if I go away for a couple minutes on my own?  Think I'll fall over without my urine weighing me down?”

Blaine balked, jaw falling open for a minute before he flummoxed for a response, “No!  No!  None of that!  Well… I do like seeing your dick but I haven't been peeking!”

Kurt shook his head with an accompanying snicker.  “Relax Blaine.”

“You don't really think that I think that of you do you?  The Other thing I mean?” Blaine asked, taking Kurt by the hand and helping lead him over a ditch.  The rest of the group was walking ahead of them, as Blaine and Kurt were the slowest of them.

Kurt sighed.  “The thought had crossed my mind… but I'm constantly reminded by all you do of how much you actually do trust me.  You're kind of ridiculous that way.”

“I'd rather be ridiculous than be blind to how much you care about the people in the community.”

“I'm kind of ridiculous for that too aren't I?”

Blaine thought for a second before responding, wanting to make sure his words were as clear as his feelings, “Yes and no… I mean… I think if the community treated me like they treat you most of the time, I'd be a lot more angry at them and not so loyal… but there are good people there, and people that do care about you.  They're the ones who see you for what you really are - magic or not.”

“And what's that?”  Kurt asked quietly, less agitated and more attuned to Blaine.

“Someone who cares for others regardless of whether or not they care for him back.  You give yourself without expecting anything back.  I'd call you a saint but you've made your views of the Catholic church clear on a few occasions.”

Kurt smirked at that.  He had ranted to Blaine about not only the Catholic church, but most organized religions on a few occasions in the past few years.  Suffice it to say, Kurt understood the need for individuals to find spirituality and meaning for their existences, but had no problems noting how organized religions had been responsible for wars, injustices, and inequalities throughout human history.  

“I'm no saint Blaine.”

“You're my angel.”

Kurt rolled his eyes at that and just shook his head at Blaine, dismissing the term of endearment that had once again surfaced.  Kurt might not like it, but to Blaine nothing was closer to the truth.  

“You're a sap.  Come on.”

They went for a couple more hours until they reached a farmhouse where they decided to spend the night since Jeff assured them that it would take a few more hours beyond that to get to the next village.

“A trampoline!”  Jeff announced happily when they walked into the house and looked into the yard behind it.

No sooner had he announced it then Jeff was running out back, climbing onto the stretchy expanse of black held in place by some very rusty looking springs.

“Uh… that doesn't look very safe…..”  Karofsky pointed out, being ignored by Jeff who bounced a few times with childlike delight.

Somehow the trampoline managed to hold him and keep him bouncing for a solid half hour while everyone gathered what they could find.  The farmhouse had some patches of vegetables still growing up around it - a welcome change from that cans of food they were used to interspersed with rice and oatmeal.  Blaine was even able to find a needle and thread - things so simple yet they had eluded him for the past week.

“Santana took the main bed… “  Kurt grumbled as the dusk settled into night, revealing the stars overhead.  Blaine was sitting up on the trampoline now that Jeff had abandoned it and fallen asleep in a child's bed in the house.  

“Come lie back with me here…”  Blaine said, holding a hand out to Kurt and helping him up.  As he laid back, Kurt laid with him, using Blaine's good arm as a pillow as they quietly looked up into the night sky.  Not a word spoken as they stared at the constellations, Blaine wishing he had bothered to learn more than just the rudimentary ones that every schoolboy knew - Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Orion's Belt.

“I don't know what I am or what I'm capable of Blaine…”

Blaine turned his head to the side, looking at Kurt who stayed staring up into the night sky as he continued.

“I don't know how I do what it is I seem to be able to do… I don't know if I'm human or Other or something else entirely… I don't know if it's going to get stronger or weaker… I don't know if people should trust me… I don't even know if I can trust myself…”

“Kurt -”

“And I'm scared to try to know… to want to learn.  I don't want to be like them.  I don't want this thing I have… I've only ever wanted to be normal and now it's completely confirmed that I will never, ever be normal.”

Blaine recognized that Kurt just needed to vent, clamping his mouth shut and giving Kurt his full attention.

“But if I don't figure out how to use this thing I have… I won't be able to protect you all properly… and that's all I've ever wanted to do… make sure you're all safe.”

Kurt sighed, turning in against Blaine and tucking his head under Blaine's chin with a murmur of “I don't know what to do.”

Blaine waited a moment, bringing his torn up arm over Kurt to hold him lightly, making sure Kurt was done speaking before he responded.

“Just… be you.  You don't have to do anything if you don't want to Kurt.  Whatever protection you've been providing - that happened without you even knowing how to do it.  We can go back and things can be the same again.”

Kurt shook his head against Blaine, “No… what about runs?  What if they figure out how to get past whatever innate barrier I've got around me?  I have to be able to keep everyone safe Blaine.”

“That's not your job…”

“But it's the only reason they let me stay around.”

Blaine brushed his hand over Kurt's hair gently, ever mindful of the cuts hidden along his scalp that were still mending.  “Kurt… the people who love you want you around for more than just that.  I don't care if you can shield us or not.  I didn't even know you did that until last week.  It doesn't change anything for me.”

“Only because you're a love blinded idiot.”  Kurt huffed, though his words were belied by his burrowing closer against Blaine's body.

“Yeah…” Blaine really couldn't deny that.

They fell asleep out there, laying on the trampoline in each other's arms.  Blaine occasionally opened his eyes when a strong breeze floated over them but it was otherwise a good night.  No dreams (at least none he remembered), no rain (but that had been an issue all spring and summer), and because they were far enough away from the rest of their group, they weren't subjected to the snores of others.

They had some more of the now wild growing vegetables for breakfast, digging out whatever they could to take with them.  Blaine stitched up Kurt's deeper gashes, ignoring Kurt's swearing and complaining as he did.  In turn, Kurt stitched up the length of Blaine's arm - causing more swearing out of Blaine than he was sure he had spoken in his entire life.

“I didn't know you had been working on the old quads.”  Blaine said as they began their walk.  The first stretch of the daily walk was always the hardest as they had to work against the stiffness and soreness in their bodies until it numbed out and their bodies could move more fluidly.

“Yeah… just didn't want to lose those skills my dad had taught me.”

“Did you work on Canary at all?”

Kurt made a small smile at the mention of Blaine's own quad and then nodded, “Yeah.  She works, but I didn't want to take her… I wanted it to be a surprise for you.”

Blaine leaned over to kiss Kurt's cheek as that was revealed.  “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Today's walk was only a few hours before they came to the next village where they were greeted by the sight of buildings that looked like they were all about to collapse on themselves.  The weather had been particularly hard on this little place, in the middle of the prairies with no trees to guard against the wind or elements.  Still, it was a place where they could scavenge for lunch, a change of clothing, and take a break.

“There's a truck there…”  Kurt noted, pointing it out from where it was parked between two of the buildings.  “I'll check it out.”

Everyone went their own ways.  Kurt poked through the engine of the truck, Blaine going to find a pair of fresh clothes for them, Santana and Jeff looking for food, Karofsky giving himself a much needed hair cut with a pair of scissors he found, and Sam looking for any baby items he could take home to Mercedes.

It was the triumphant rev of an engine that brought everyone back together and to Kurt, hands all black and dirty from working on the vehicle, but a true smile gracing his angular features nonetheless.

“We need to gas it up… alcohol might work if we can find some.  I recall my dad saying something about using alcohol in cars when I was a kid… I just hope it wasn't some urban legend because I doubt there's anything else we could use around here.”

No one argued with that, especially since Kurt had the market cornered on vehicle knowledge, and went to locate some liquor, leaving Blaine with Kurt.

“You're amazing.”

Kurt rolled his eyes and dug his hands back into the engine, a mess of metal and tubes that Blaine couldn't begin to figure out.  “Clear out the inside of the vehicle.  Looks like the previous owner enjoyed driving in his or her own filth.”

Blaine did as he was told, emptying the truck of years of papers, empty pop cans, gum and chocolate bar wrappers,potato chip bags, changes of clothing (apparently it had belonged to a woman), torn up pantyhose, and lots and lots of change congealed in nail polish that had dripped out of the many little bottles spread throughout the vehicle.  The box of the truck had bags of garbage in it, which Blaine just tossed to the side as well.  He might be littering, but it wasn't like there was going to be a garbage pickup anywhere in this little town anytime soon anyhow.

By the time he was done, a strong wind had picked up, and Blaine kept his head turned away because the damned thing was spitting pebbles and dirt into his face.  

“You should have something to eat and also clean off before we go!”  He called down to Kurt from the box of the truck, having to yell in order to speak over the whistle of the wind around him.

Kurt slammed down the hood of the truck and nodded up to Blaine while wiping his dirty hands on his shirt.  “What do we have?”

Blaine hopped out of the emptied box and went to a bag he had left sitting by one of the tires, thankfully out of the path of the wind, “We have a box of crackers, some coffee beans, and spam!”

“Delightful…”  Kurt grunted with no shortage of sarcasm.  They sat down, out of the wind, and ate the makeshift lunch as they waited for the comrades to join them - hopefully with something that could be used as fuel.  

When a crack echoed from across the street, both of them looked up and gaped as they watched the building there bend and then crumple under the weight of the wind hitting it.

“Holy shit…”

Kurt stood up and yelled, “Santana!  Karofsky!  Sam!  Jeff!”

Lunch was abandoned in favour of yelling for their friends, looking around frantically, and wincing as the wind burned their exposed skin.  Jeff emerged from a nearby house, then Sam, then Karofsky and Santana.

“Oh… shit….”  Karofsky uttered, pointing towards the west side of town where everyone else let their gaze travel the instant they were reunited.

Blaine had only ever read about tornadoes in books, and certainly had never seen one with his own eyes before.  That was a tornado though.  Brown and white and swirling and moving their way.  It pointed at the earth from its connection to the clouds overhead and that, to Blaine, was a clear indication of the decimation it intended to deliver.

“We need to… ah… find underground shelter… “ Jeff stammered, eyes wide and blue and fearful.

“Did you guys find any cemented basements anywhere?”  Kurt asked, eyes still glued to the encroaching swirl that was blowing up dirt and dry grass all around it.

“Yeah!  This way!”  

Santana led them towards a house, and none of them questioned the tacky decor or pictures of cats that adorned the walls as they followed her in and down into small, unfinished basement that still had a dirt floor but was encircled by cement.  There they crouched together under the stairs.  

“Fuck…. fuckfuckfuck….”  Santana said, looking upwards. “If we got away from those assholes only to die because of a fucking strong gust of wind I am going to be the most pissed off ghost…”

No one responded, just listening to the whistling wind, the crack of buildings around them, and the light breaths of one another.  

They knew the tornado was closer though when the cracking of buildings turned into full fledged snaps that occurred with increasing frequency and then the floor above them became to shake as air blew through it and pulled upon it in an effort to rip it from the foundation.

“Oh god… oh god… Kurt!  Do something!” Sam whined.

Kurt looked back at Sam in surprise, and Blaine watched at Sam's urgent, pleading look was mirrored by Santana, Karofsky, and Jeff.  

“I… I don't know how… I mean… I…”

“Fuck   Come on demon spawn.  Do your little sparkly finger thing and keep us alive!”  Santana spat, gesturing towards Kurt's fingers as the wind picked up with a howl above them.

“I don't know how to just do that!” Kurt spat back, wincing as a board above them lifted and pulled back into the wind.  The opening in the ceiling was like a vacuum, sucking up all the dust and causing all the boxes in the basement to slowly be pulled towards the point of suction.  

It caused them all to back against the wall, trying to grip the smooth material that wouldn't give under their fingertips to avoid being pulled in themselves.  The way the wind was whipping around them now and the way the floorboards above them were being pulled up told them all that if they weren't right under the tornado, then they were about to.  It was terrifying.  Blaine's heart was racing like it hadn't in at least a week, but there was no negotiating with this natural disaster, this wasn't just torture to get information out.  The tornado didn't care what it harmed in its path.  It didn't have any reservations about what it did.  It certainly wasn't going to pick and choose who died and who didn't based on closeness to Kurt.  

Things began lifting and circling off the floor.  Boxes that were emptied of papers that spun in the air, nails and screws, the boards from the staircase they had been using for shelter.  They fought between looking at the scene and having to close their eyes - part out of protectiveness and part out of the pain of eyes being pulled from sockets.  There was no more arguing because everyone was so focused on keeping their bodies pulled against the wall and curling up as much as they could on themselves to protect their bodies from being hit by the flying debris.

Blaine reached to take Kurt's hand.  He needed Kurt to know that he loved him if this was going to be what did them in.  Hands though didn't connect as Blaine saw that Kurt had his fingers outstretched, jabbing them forward an inch every so often.  He was trying to use his magic to protect them - and clearly failing.

Santana had it the worst.  Her long hair whipped around her head and kept hitting her when the wind changed direction.  She even had small cuts on her face from the force of the hits. Jeff had a hand over a cut on his leg from a nail that had stabbed him there.  Sam was unhit - probably on account of being beside the much larger man that was Karofsky who now had a few slices to show for facing the storm they were in.  

Blaine knew he had also been hit by something on the side, but he didn't care to look down.  What was one more wound when he already had so many and didn't even know if they'd get out of this alive?

It took Jeff getting hit by a flying board to answer that question.  He yelped and then crumbled to the ground.  Without consciousness, he was unable to fight back against being pulled into the wind and was dragged out into the middle of the room.

Suddenly everything fell in the room and the wind was gone.  Blaine had to look around to make sure it wasn't a dream because it had happened so quickly.  Overhead they could still see the swirling of boards, dirt, and miscellaneous objects as they were pulled up by the tornado which was definitely right on top of them.  At the basement line though, there was nothing.  It was like watching a TV show while in the calm of your own chair.  Surreal.

“You fuckin' did it!”  Santana declared, smacking Kurt on the back who was completely engrossed in keeping his fingertips pointed above them, gritting his teeth as she hit a sensitive spot on him.

Blaine checked on Jeff who was already waking, though he would have a nasty bump on the side of his head.  As the storm passed over their heads, they all watched with awe.  It was such a terror of nature.  At one point they saw the limp bodies of birds being tossed around and at another point a moose even floated by.  

When the storm passed and the winds above died down enough for things to settle on top of the invisible barrier, Kurt dropped his hands down, the barrier dropping with them.  They could feel a slight wind again, though nothing like what they had experienced under the tornado's wrath.  

Kurt slumped down then, and Blaine turned his attention back to him, enfolding his arms around him and holding him close.  Whatever he had done exhausted him, and while the rest of the group worked on stacking the furniture and boards left in the basement to create a new staircase to get out, Blaine just cradled his lover in his arms.  

It took both him and Karofsky to carry Kurt out, and Blaine had the fleeting thought that he'd be able to just crawl into the box of the truck with Kurt and then they could be off - getting home within a day or so.  However, the sight of the town, or what was once a town, told him otherwise.  Buildings has collapsed on one another or been torn apart, the streets were flooded with boards and debris, and the truck was tipped on its side.

But, because of Kurt, they were alive still.  They could still travel home, they could still see their friends and families, and they still had the hope of another day to cling to.