“You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at water.” - Laurence J. Peter

Kurt rolled his shoulders back, one at a time, then flexed his head from side to side. He hadn't had a good sleep the night before, and spending all morning reading the books Mab laid out in front of him had only made the cricks and strains in his neck and back worse. Now he was shooting off arrows, albeit lazily and out of habit, into the distance. He had asked the usual crowd to give him privacy today, which they did kindly enough, and only Midhir was there, sitting on the grass a few feet away and quietly watching Kurt's attempts to make himself feel better.

“You should go to the common baths, they're infused with-”

“No. Nope.” Kurt quickly shook his head, grimacing as that inflamed the pain in his neck. “Not going to happen.”

“But they have relaxant properties….”

“Ugh… they also have everyone else naked around me.” He shot off an arrow, with no specific target, and watched it fly out across the field before losing momentum and falling into the grasses.

“I don't understand why that's a problem. It's not sexual…”

Kurt wrinkled up his nose, lowering his bow to his side to crack the knuckles in his fingers with a rapid crunk-crunk-crunk noise. “I'm just not comfortable with it.”

Midhir, to his credit, didn't push the matter any further, and when he suggested they go for tea earlier than normal, Kurt was agreeable in turn. They made haste to collect his arrows and go to the shop where Kurt took up the server's suggestion of a tea that was supposed to relax tense muscles along with a side of biscuits.

“You haven't been sleeping well lately,” Midhir noted after taking a sip of his own tea.  

“Or at all,” Kurt confirmed, sipping his own tea with a soft sigh and then leaning back in his seat and using the back rim of the chair to rub into his shoulder blades.

“Why not?”

“There's just… things on my mind.”

“It's the pool isn't it?”  

Kurt let his eyes form slivers as he quietly regarded Midhir for a moment, who once again had revealed that he knew more than Kurt suspected. Either he had been following Kurt again or his intuition was just that good.

“I think I figured out how to use it, but not very well… the first time all I saw were his eyelids, and since then all I've been able to see is black. It's even more frustrating than not being able to see anything at all.”

“Maybe he's dead,” Midhir said stoically, sipping his tea as if he had asked Kurt to pass the honey instead of suggesting the worst.

“What? Why the hell-”

“Closed eyes and then black? Maybe he's buried. Just an idea.”

It sent a shiver down Kurt's spine, followed by a hard thump of his heart against his ribs. Suddenly the tea wasn't sitting right in his stomach, and the biscuits in front of him made him feel queasy. “No… he's not dead.”

Midhir shrugged, sipped his tea, and looked over Kurt. “Just a thought.”

“I just don't know how to use it properly,” Kurt insisted, more to convince himself and get over the sudden sense of dread that was filling him up everywhere, making his chest tingle and his stomach roll. “... and I'm losing sleep over it.”

“Maybe you shouldn't go to it tonight then. Maybe you should just take a soothing bath, drink a relaxing tea, and go to bed early. Try to catch up. Maybe part of the problem is that you aren't completely with it given how tired out you are.”

Kurt had been more tired than he was presently. There were times in the community when everyone had to pitch in for some project, and Kurt had always taken double shifts since he had no family to get back home to. Sometimes he went on long hunts that left him without sleep for two days at a time. His muscles would ache then too, but he could still shoot down a buck without issue. Really, he couldn't complain about how he felt right now. He had just gotten so used to a soft, comfortable bed, and a lax schedule that he had spoiled his body.

However, magic did seem a little bit more sensitive in its usage than archery was. Perhaps Midhir had a point, and Kurt should take a step back before trying to take a step forward.  

“Yeah… makes sense. I think I'll do that.”

“Very good. Your mother is up top I hear.”

The change of subject was welcome, though as Kurt talked with Midhir about his mother's journey to the world above, he couldn't shake his worry over Blaine. What if Blaine really was dead and what if he had done something to himself because Kurt had left? What if this sacrifice that Kurt had made had been all in vain because, as much as he had hoped, he hadn't been able to protect Blaine in the end?

He had to force himself to drink back the rest of his tea as those thoughts floated into his mind without invitation, trying to avoid Midhir's concern over him, and took the biscuits home with him instead of eating them at the shop, citing that it was the plan for them all along. Kurt had to force himself to walk straight home then, and not detour to the pool no matter how much his heart seemed to beat in its direction. He had to pull up his hand every time someone waved at him, waving back despite the fact that he wanted to ignore them and focus on Blaine. It had been months since he had left the community, and yet the thoughts of his curly haired, caramel eyed husband plagued him just as much as they had when he had first come here. Kurt wasn't sure if he'd ever feel better.

As Kurt opened the door, ready to shake off the facade of being alright and collapse into bed, he was instead greeted by Finavar, standing tall and looking down upon him with those water colored eyes set against his black hair and black clothing. It gave Kurt a bit of a start, since it was only the second time he had seen the man, and now he was in the place Kurt considered his refuge.

“We must speak.”

“Fuck…” Kurt gave his head a shake and put back up his internal walls, walking past Finavar and into his room to set the bag of biscuits down on the table by his bed. “You know, in human culture, people respect privacy.”

“This is not a human settlement,” Finavar huffed, remaining in place by the door but not moving as his eyes followed Kurt. “I have news for you.”

Kurt felt his heart twinge. Immediately, his mind went to the worst place, and that was thinking that something happened to Elizabeth. Maybe she had been attacked, and now was dying, or worse, dead. He spun on his heels and looked directly at the man who was supposed to be his grandfather, waiting for him to tell him the bad news, waiting to have to deal with even more loss in his life.

“Elizabeth believes she had found your… human mate.”

That was the last thing Kurt expected, and he gave away his surprise as he sucked in a sharp breath and took a few steps closer to Finavar. “How? When?”

“He was brought in from a human settlement near the coast where the local humans have made a deal with our kind to turn in threatening humans to us…”

That didn't make any sense. Not one word of it. Kurt's brain tried to wrap around so many things. A human settlement near the coast. Humans making deals with Others. Blaine being considered a threat. None of those seemed to fit into what Kurt knew.

“When they tried to execute him, they couldn't. He had been beaten so Elizabeth was called to heal him to find out why they couldn't lay hands on him and her magic didn't penetrate him.”

Kurt's mind began to spin, and he set a hand against the wall to help brace him as he looked to the ground to focus his thoughts. For a split second he thought it might be a ruse, some kind of pure-blood prank, but then he again had to remind himself that it was more likely that Finavar was telling him the truth, no matter how little sense it made. His stomach felt like it was being stomped on with each word, particularly the mentions of attempts to execute Blaine and that Blaine was beaten.  

“He was identified by Kalki, the Halfling general that was with the party that found you initially inland.”

Kurt took a deep breath, and looked up, eye-to-eye with Finavar. “Is he okay?”

“That is for you to decide.”

Kurt's stomach sank deep within him. They were going to use Blaine against him… again. He thought he had been accepted here but clearly that was not the case, at least not when it came to the council. Without having to think on it, he already knew what they wanted, and if he wasn't already feeling like his core was going cold, the deal he was about to make would have ensured he would have.

“You want me to sire children…”

Finavar nodded, smirking a little at Kurt's ability to clue into the situation.  

“You know I can't say no… but, but… he has to be alright - and he has to be with me.”

Kurt's ears pounded as he watched, waited for Finavar to either deny him or accept his offer.  He was making a big choice in an emotional state, and he knew it, but there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to ensure Blaine's safety, especially after spending several nights in a row fretting over what he saw, or didn't see for that matter, in the viewing pool. He didn't even think about whether Blaine might be better off up top and without him as the need to see with his own eyes that Blaine was cared for overrode every other iota of reason in him. It seemed to take forever for Finavar to respond, but in reality it only took him a moment.

“Very well.”

“What do I need to do?”

Finavar gestured for Kurt to follow him out the door and back down to the town, something which Kurt did earnestly. He felt like he was racing, or chasing something, and that he couldn't quite make it. Suddenly everything seemed more intense than it really was, and his sense of urgency had gone well past being high to soaring right out and above him.

“You will give a sample of your make to the Ilu who will see it delivered into ready wombs.”

Well at least he didn't need to do it himself. With a breath of relief he nodded quickly and kept on Finavar's heels despite the way his stomach had frozen so it was rock hard now and seemed to carry with it extra weight upon each step.

“We will have your human mate brought to the Ilu hall in town. As healing magic does not seem to work on him, Elizabeth has gotten local human healers to help work on him - from the Halfling encampment. Parents of Halfling children apparently. The Ilu here have done enough experiments and work on human bodies to be the best option to work on him without using magic.”

Experiments, work… Finavar made it sound like the poking and picking they did upon human bodies was a replacement for proper medical care. It also was clear to Kurt then that Finavar had anticipated what Kurt's request would be, and made plans in advance. If he hadn't been so worried, Kurt would have been mad at being outthought and outplayed, but Blaine was apparently hurt and within his reach, so Kurt kept his mouth shut as he listened to Finavar speak.

“Elizabeth believes your magic is the reason she cannot heal him and the reason that they were unable to execute him initially…”

Kurt furrowed his brow. “I don't even know how to use my magic.”

“... I said as much. Mab believes you use it unintentionally and -”

“You spoke to Mab?”

“Of course. I am the representative of all support magic after all, and she falls as a trainer under that.”

The soreness in Kurt's body became worse with each word out of Finavar. Blaine had been beaten. The Others had tried to kill him. Kurt's magic stopped them but also stopped Blaine from being helped by his mother. Mab had been reporting to Finavar on his progress (or lack thereof). He had been tricked into fathering a child….

Blaine was hurt.

Finavar stopped in front of the Ilu center, a large dark building that reflected their similarly dark powers. Together they went inside, greeted by several Ilu that Kurt could scarcely tell apart. They were all so pale, bald, white-eyed, and lanky. They seemed to have a dress code of black robes that covered up the majority of their bodies, only exposing their long fingers that were so thin-skinned, they showed the veins below.  

“He will give a sample.”

The group of Ilu nodded vigorously in unison, and one held out a ceramic cup to Kurt, who hesitantly took it into his hands and turned it around in them. “... just… into this?”

“Yes. If you feel unable to impregnate a female on your own, then this is how it must be done,” one of them stated, prompting them all to nod again.

“You will be supervised to ensure it is your sample that is given -”

“What?!”

“... and that you're not trying to trick us. When it is done, I will have him transported,” Finavar stated, making it plain to Kurt that he didn't trust him one bit.

Kurt was getting used to the feeling of bile rising in his throat, burning it with its acidity, and once again it didn't fail to come up with Finavar's declaration. He knew where he ranked in terms of power though, especially when it came to having the power to bring Blaine to him, and he needed to get Blaine there as fast as he could. Begrudgingly then, Kurt looked towards the Ilu and asked, “where can I… do it?”

They gestured for him to follow them, and so he did, being taken to a side room that had clearly been used for some of their experiments as an examination table sat in the center of it and the cupboards were filled with different parts of anatomy - probably from humans - floating in jars with liquid. How he was supposed to feel aroused enough to do what he needed to do given the circumstances and setting was beyond him in that instant, but it didn't stop him from shucking down his pants low enough to expose himself before them. He avoided their eyes though. This crossed out of his comfort zone and into some other territory that he was definitely not alright with. Still, to get Blaine to him, he had to do what they deemed necessary.

“Do you need… oh, what do the humans call it… a prepper? Fluffer?” one of his escorts suggested, drawing more red into his cheeks as he realized they were looking at his flaccid member. He turned slightly into the wall, unsuccessfully trying to hide himself as his skin burned with the attention being given to him.

“No! No… I'll… just… I'll be fine.” He couldn't tell them this would be easier to do without them there because it was all part of the deal. He had to do this.

So, taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes, he thought back. Thought of how he would look over Blaine's sleeping form beside him in their bed with the light from the cracks between the wood casting rays of gold over Blaine's body. He thought of how he had chased Blaine down in the winter once after being the victim of one of Blaine's snowballs and tackled him into the snow below him, Blaine laughing the whole time. Then there was that time Kurt was so tired from staying up to help with the twins when both Sam and Mercedes had to work and Blaine dragged him off to bed while rocking one of the babies in each of his arms before Kurt's sleepy eyes. It didn't make him forget he wasn't alone in the room, but it did help him ensure he was hard enough to wrap his hand around, hard enough to stroke, all the while thinking back to more sweet memories as he tugged on his dick furiously, not wanting this to take longer than it needed to.

Blaine below him, looking up at him with a sweat rimmed brow.
Blaine between his legs so all Kurt could see were his curls bouncing up and down.
Blaine wrapping his arms around him from behind, holding him close as he buried himself within Kurt.

“Gg…. ngh!”

In truth, Kurt hadn't done more than idly touch himself on a few occasions since he had come to this place. It felt like cheating to give himself pleasure without Blaine there to share in it, and so he was sufficiently pent up to get the job over with quickly enough.

One of his escorts stole the cup from where he had it clenched in white knuckled fingers, and he again looked away shamefully as he drew up his pants. It was done. If it worked to their advantage, he'd be a father soon…

But he'd also have Blaine.

Once he felt his face had cooled off enough and ensured he was all done up again, Kurt returned to the main hall where Finavar nodded his way, smug smirk over his angular face. “Very good. I will send the message.”

Kurt was pretty sure his dad's father, the one he had always called grandpa, would never have been so happy that he had jerked off into a cup.  

“How long?”

“It shouldn't take long at all. Several Ilu are already up top ready to bring him below on my word.”

A shiver spiked through Kurt as he gulped and nodded to the back of the man already walking away and out of the building. Soon. He'd be with Blaine again soon.

Of course soon didn't mean immediate, and Kurt paced the floor, looking up hopefully whenever one of the Ilu residents bustled by. There was so much he wanted to ask Blaine. So many questions that his joining Kurt had brought up, especially given what Finavar had said. Had Kurt really placed a spell on Blaine somehow? If Kurt could reverse it somehow, would a healer be able to help Blaine? He wanted to go and ask Mab how he could do it, but given how she had been talking behind his back to Finavar and how little he had actually learned from her in the past few weeks, Kurt quickly threw that idea away. No. If he was going to figure out how to help Blaine, he'd have to do it on his own.

The biggest necessity would be overseeing the Ilu. Kurt trusted them less than he did most of the Others down below after all this time. He knew what they did, how they would experiment on humans up top to learn more about them, their techniques of torture they called research. Hell, Kurt was pretty sure Ilu were the source of vampire mythology with their pale skin, dark attire, and interest in death -  and they sure as hell weren't sparkly like in the young adult novels that Trent had said all the young girls were voracious for at the community library. Ilu practiced magic that dealt with mortality and nightmares, and as such, he needed to ensure they didn't use any while they were taking care of Blaine.

Though apparently he might have inadvertently protected Blaine from magic without realizing it anyhow.

When a light flashed in the center of the hall, Kurt wasn't expecting it and so he jumped back a step and braced his hand on the wall beside him. No one else seemed concerned about it though, even as it grew and formed an oval that showed darkness within. It struck him that this was it, and, with a deep breath, he stepped towards the opening just as Ilu came out of it, four in total, each holding the corner of a wooden stretcher in their hands which a man was bound to with cloth.

It took him a moment, maybe longer, to realize that man was Blaine.

He was smaller than Kurt remembered, thinner. His beard had taken over his face and that face was covered in dark blue and purple bruises that had swollen outwards, making his eyes sink into his face. The binding wrapping him to the board he was being carried on covered his legs and arms, but Kurt could tell that they were somehow out of place.

He knew Blaine was hurt, but he didn't anticipate how badly. His heart sunk down from where it had jumped up in joy briefly to know it was Blaine before him. “Blaine…”

His husband didn't respond though, and the Ilu continued to walk towards one of their side rooms with all their questionable equipment, Kurt hot on their heels.

“He is sedated,” one of them said stiffly as they continued to hold Blaine up while they were preparing to transfer him from the stretcher to the table they had prepared.

“I'm not leaving him,” Kurt noted sternly, receiving no response, positive or negative, from the Ilu who went about cutting the bindings off of Blaine to reveal just how mauled his body was. There was scarcely a spot that wasn't bruised, and his arms and legs had all been put into casts. When he was lifted from the stretcher to the table, Kurt sucked in a breath, seeing gashes over Blaine's back, and held it, only to breath in even more air when he saw the stitched incision over Blaine's abdomen.

The table was soft, and Kurt was pretty sure it was cushioned by water. In addition they had lifted the edges of the table up so they could pour water, likely infused with the same antiseptic properties as the common baths, around Blaine to no more than an inch high.  

“The human doctors showed us their medicines. We have replicated them to the best of our ability.  They also went inside him to stop some bleeding from within.” an Ilu said to Kurt, who looked up from where he had been staring at Blaine's ribs. Some of them had been wrapped up, but the ones he could see were pressed tightly against his skin, telling Kurt that he hadn't just been beaten, but had been starving too. Each one had a hollow space before the next one, like a skeleton.  

“Is he going to be alright?”

“We have made a deal. We intend to keep it.”  

Kurt nodded and watched them carefully as they each attended to a separate part of Blaine. One of them hooked up something that resembled an IV, a thought confirmed when they noted, “a human doctor gave us this. It has what you call antibiotics.”

“He… has an infection?”

The Ilu nodded to him and resumed its work, eyeing up the needle attached to the antibiotic bag curiously before clarifying with one of the others on how it was to be inserted and hanging the bag up on a post nearby.

Kurt really wished right then that he had studied medicine when they had asked him, and he had been asked more than once. He never knew he might need it. He never thought that it could help someone he loved so much.

He always thought someone else would know enough to handle it. Even in the wintertime at the community, when Blaine inevitably caught whatever cold or flu was going around, Kurt always called Mike or Carole in to look him over just to tell Kurt that all Blaine needed was time, water, and care - three things that Kurt ensured Blaine had during those periods. Blaine was so apologetic too, telling Kurt sorry whenever he vomited into a bowl Kurt would hold out for him, telling Kurt he didn't need to stay and watch him when Blaine had a fever, or weakly telling Kurt he'd be fine despite the fact that he'd be coughing out his own lungs. Kurt always took care of Blaine then, and had always been glad to do so, but this… this went beyond simple time, water, and care.  

Blaine breaths were choppy, stuttered as they came out from between his cracked and split lips. His nose was also bandaged, and Kurt assumed it had been broken as well given how red and puffy it was. He just wanted to reach out and touch Blaine's cheek, to tell him that he'd be alright, to make that connection that would let Kurt know the man in front of him was real because it all seemed too surreal still, but Blaine looked damaged everywhere and Kurt didn't even know where he could touch Blaine that might not hurt him.

“What kind of medicine did the doctors send with you?”

One Ilu glanced up from where it was swabbing Blaine's arm and nodded towards a bag Kurt hadn't noticed being brought in. He pulled himself away from Blaine's side and looked through the bag, seeing within it smaller bags filled with different pills, and with each bag a note.

Amoxicillin - To be taken with water at the same time every day once the patient is conscious and able to swallow the pill on his own. Can be crushed and put into liquids if patient does not resume normal eating habits within time frame given.

Oxycotin - For pain. Do not crush…

Lorazepam - For sedation…

There were just so many bags of different pills, all colors and sizes. Kurt held his breath as he looked them over, feeling like the room was spinning suddenly under him, and grabbed the corner of the counter to brace himself. When he looked back over at Blaine, one of the Ilu had some metal tongs coming out of his mouth and in them, a tooth… Blaine's tooth.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Several of his teeth are no longer connected fully to his gums. We were advised to remove them so they do not cause further issue and potential infection.”

“Can't… can't you fix them?”

It looked towards him then, or at least he assumed it was looking at him with those blank eyes, and Kurt swore it was judging him. “We are unable to use magic on him or this would be a much simpler matter.”

“I don't know how… I don't know how to undo it…” Kurt insisted, keeping his fingers coiled around the counter's edge tightly. “I would if I could. I don't know how… I don't…”

“Calm yourself Quarterling. We are already having to tend to him the best we can, we do not need to spend our time on you too.”

He knew it was right, and so he took in a breath and let it out, and then coached himself to take another, and another after that, until he was breathing properly again and the floor felt stable enough to walk on again. He had to keep it together. He needed to be there for Blaine in case… no… when Blaine woke up.

“Beside the medicine… the clothing he wore. Should we destroy it?”

Kurt looked over at a second bag, moving to open it and then pausing as he saw the contents. Pink sweatpants with the word Princess emblazoned on the butt in fancy black lettering, a crop-top that had more sequins than fabric, a rainbow tutu. All of it encrusted with red from where Blaine's blood had soaked into it. Either Blaine had lost his mind, he had no other clothing alternatives, or someone had sought to humiliate him. Kurt was about to turn away from the bag and tell the Ilu that it could be destroyed when he saw a glint of metal peaking out from one of the pockets of the pants and reached in to pull out a phone, also with scabs of dried blood coating it.  

Kurt knew that phone, knew what was on it. The scratch going down the side and the scuff mark on the button gave it away. This was the one he listened to the most. Blaine had been carrying this for him and now Kurt had it in his hands, holding it to his heart and having to bite down on his lower lip to stop himself from tearing up.  

So he waited, watching as they washed each wound with care he didn't expect out of them, overseeing them work together to make sure they were following the directions they had been given correctly, swabbing Blaine over several times to ensure he was clean, and then, working together to roll Blaine on his side so they could tend to the gashes on his back.

Gashes that wrote out two words.

BACK STABBER

His hand lifted to his mouth to hold back the vomit that crept up in him when he saw that, and the sadness and worry that had been overflowing in him until that point began to bubble as anger set in. Blaine had been hurt by someone that knew him, someone that knew him and was cruel enough to do something that horrible to him.  

Kurt could never say that he felt murderous before, not even when he was shot down and the community was attacked, but he felt it then. He felt that he could be capable of killing someone, so long as it was getting the someone that did that to Blaine.

“Did… did they say who did that to him?” Kurt choked out over the acid he was forcing back into his belly.

“No. It was not of concern.”

“Why the hell wouldn't it be?” Kurt said with a shake of his head.

“What does it say?”

He sometimes forgot the innate language they shared, and while some knew how to speak different human languages, the Purebloods, like the Ilu, didn't often know how to read human languages. “Back stabber.”

“Hmm.”

Their tone was disinterested, passive, and it made Kurt even more irritated. They were supposed to care. He was one of them and Blaine was his, and so Blaine had to be one of them too by proxy. If they said they cared about Kurt, then they should care about Blaine too. It made sense in Kurt's mind.

After his back had been cleaned and wrapped in new bandages, they laid Blaine back down and several of them left the room, leaving only two there with Kurt, one of which explained, “now we tend to him in regular intervals and monitor his progress. If you can pull your spell off him, we would also be able to call in a healer.”

“I want to… I want to…”

“But you do not know how to use that magic which makes you special. Yes. That has been revealed.”

Kurt glanced down at his feet, shamed once again in their presence. It was okay to be a Halfling and not be born with magic, but it was another thing entirely to have magic and not know how to use it. Especially now. Before he was just fooling around, trying to use up his time by learning what he might be capable of, but now he really needed to know how to use magic and he didn't have the foggiest idea of how. He should have paid more attention, or applied himself more. He was capable of more and he knew it.

He looked up at Blaine's broken body again, clutching the phone tightly in both hands and keeping it pressed against his heart.

“You should go home and rest. He is quite sedated and will likely not be responsive until much later.”

“I'm not leaving him.”

“It is unnecessary to stay.”

Kurt shook his head. “No. I'm not leaving him. Not again. Not ever.”