It all started with a text: Come to Lima Memorial Hospital. There was an accident.

The entire Glee club got the text at the same time. The room fell into a sudden hush as everyone glanced from their phones to their classmates.

Rachel was the first to speak: "The only people who aren't here are Quinn and Brittany."

"Quinn was the one who sent the mass-text," Artie added.

"Alright, come on everyone," Mr. Schuester said, swinging his arms, motioning towards the door. "We'll pile into whoever has a car handy."

So five minutes later, Kurt was crammed in the backseat of Finn's truck with Rachel on his lap and Mercedes and Tina to his left. Nobody dared to talk. The only sound was the soft hum of the radio; the tune sounded familiar, and Kurt desperately tried to distinguish it as a way to get his mind off the current situation.

'You gave me strength, gave me hope for a lifetime,'the radio sang. Kurt repeated the lyrics in his head, trying to remember the song, as he gazed out the window.

For a second, he drifted so far into his thoughts that he started thinking absurd things, like of the seven people in the car, whose angels were cramming, in Blaine's words, into "the metal contraption."

Stop! It doesn't matter, he thought, shaking his head slightly. Rachel stared down at him, considering his actions then gazed out the back window. Blaine's been gone for a week. Who knows if he's even here anymore?

Kurt pushed away the feeling of ache which was slowly creeping towards his heart just as the lyrics chimed, 'This time won't you save me? Baby, I can feel myself giving up.'

Kurt clung tighter to Rachel as they turned into the hospital. Despair washed over him at the sight of the building. He hated hospitals, especially this one.

Having a crowd of teenagers rush into Lima Memorial set a lot of the workers off. Their cried of exasperation were drowned out by the Glee clubs' cries of "Brittany S. Pierce!"

Kurt knew they were on the right floor as soon at he saw the Cheerio uniforms. In the last room, four of five petite girls poked their heads into the room. When they heard the stomping of feet, a few Cheerios peeked out to look down the hall. When the saw the Glee club approaching, the girls scowled, narrowing their eyes.

Suddenly, Quinn's voice rang down the hall.

"Coach, I told you this wasn't safe – Nationals trophy or not," she said, her voice strained.

"I blame it on the completely incompetent Janitor Joe, who put the net to catch Brittany exactly three feet left of her landing. Someone who cannot follow simple directions should not be employed at this school!" Sue Sylvester retorted. "Speaking of a waste of school funds...William!"

"What happened, Sue?" Schuester asked, weaving passed the Cheerios towards Brittany's bedside. The Glee clubbers followed. (The Cheerios parted like the Red Sea, not wanting to be touched.)

"Brittany may have landed short of the net when we shot her out of the Cheerio cannon on our first practice run," Sue said nonchalantly.

"Sue, how could you be so careless?" Schuester gasped. "Do you not care at all about the student's wellbeing? Poor Brittany."

Kurt could only see Brittany's hand, which rested lifelessly off the edge of her bed.

"I will not be criticized for the way I handle my champions! Yes, Brittany may have gotten scratched-"

"Scratched?" Quinn yelped.

"-but every one of these girls knew the risks they were taking when signing away their lives to the Cheerios."

"I don't think any of them realized you meant literally!" Schuester yelled.

"It was in the extenuating circumstances," Sue said simply. "Let's go girls. We missed twenty minutes of practice; you aren't getting off that easily."

The Cheerios dispensed from the hospital room – all except Quinn.

"Q, I'll see you tomorrow," Sue said quietly as she walked passed. "Make sure Brittany makes it out alright."

Quinn nodded and Sue literally pushed her way out into the hallway. With far less people, Kurt and the rest of the Glee club saw how badly Brittany was actually hurt. Sue calling it a scratch was the hugest understatement of the century.

There was a collection of groans and gasps as they took in the huge white cast wrapping across Brittany's right shoulder, down her arm and circling her torso. Her Cheerios uniform sat beside the bed, ripped and dirty. Under her hospital gown, Brittany's skin was cut up all the way down to mid-calf, like a giant skid mark. Her face was bruised and swollen, but she still looked like sweet, innocent Brittany. Sweet, innocent Brittany who got talked into shooting herself out of a cannon for the sake of a cheerleading routine.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kurt asked Quinn, who was grasping Brittany's hand. Glancing over, Kurt realized Brittany's other hand was cupped as well, as if someone was holding onto it, too. Santana? Kurt pursed his lips and cast his eyes away.

"She has a nasty concussion," Quinn informed, "and she hasn't woken up yet."

"But she's going to be okay?" Kurt pushed on, glancing in the direction of Santana supposed whereabouts.

"I hope."

Kurt waited until visiting hours were nearly over to see Brittany again. The nurses at the front desk didn't seem too surprised that she had yet another visitor. When Kurt asked if Brittany was any better, they regrettably shook their heads no.

He walked into her empty room, sat on her bed, and reached for her hand. He stayed quiet, just grasping her hand, rubbing little circles along her fingers.

"Sue got in a lot of trouble for this, Britt," Kurt finally said. "She kept blaming Janitor Joe, but Figgins wasn't having it. She got suspended." Kurt paused, part of him legitimately waiting for a response. "I wish you'd wake up, so I could actually tell you this good news. You're really scaring us, Brittany."

Kurt sighed, reaching forward to touch the not swollen portion of her face.

"I knew if you were okay, I would have heard about it by now. So, I'm mostly here for Santana," Kurt said honestly. In his head, he could almost see Santana's attention get caught, her gaze flinging on him. "Blaine told me she's his best friend." Santana must be smiling warmly at Blaine – a brief smile. "And she loves you, Britt. Everyone needs saving – even angels. So, Blaine, if you're here," Kurt's voice cracked, "I'll stay until the end of visiting hours. Just be here for Santana, the way Brittany can't."

Kurt felt a ghost of a touch trail softly down his back. Even though Blaine didn't appear, Kurt knew he was there. Kurt hid a smile while leaning towards Brittany, taking her hand. For the next ten minutes, he talked to Brittany about how the Glee club was handling the accident and what everyone was saying online. Behind Brittany's back, everyone loved her and wished her well.

"If you want to stay asleep longer, I'm sure you'll get some fancy assorted baskets. Maybe that's what this is actually about," Kurt joked.

He looked at the clock. 10:57. Sighing, he said, "I'll be back after school tomorrow – whether you're better or not. Please, be better though."

Kurt moved forward, bending down to kiss Brittany's forehead. As soon as his lips touched her skin, the beeping of her heart monitor started to jump. Pulling away quickly, Kurt stared at the machine. Her heart pumped quickly then immediately started to slow down. Dumbfounded, Kurt went numb.

Suddenly, a voice screamed, "HELP! BRITTANY PIERCE! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING! HER HEART! HELP!"

Kurt's mouth fell opened as a girl rushed passed him, out of nowhere – tan skin, a white dress, long black hair. She ran into the hallway, yelling. Her voice was then muffled by the sound of loud beeping coming from Brittany's entire room. The girl came rushing back in with nurses in her wake.

"BRITT-BRITT, PLEASE!" she cried hysterically.

"I need both of you to leave the room," a nurse said sternly over her shoulder. It took Kurt a second to realize she was talking to him. Moving automatically, Kurt grabbed the crying girl, dragging her out of the room.

"NO! KURT! I NEED- I NEED TO BE WITH HER."

"Not right now. They need space. They'll help her," Kurt said desperately, pulling her down the hall.

She cried, hard. Her whole body was shaking. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, Kurt hushed her, soothingly.

"Santana?" he whispered into her ear. She nodded. "How?"

Santana looked up at him ready to say something, or maybe she did, but Kurt didn't hear it. Surprising herself, Santana tried to speak again. Nothing came out. And even though Kurt had been holding onto a solid person, his arms abruptly slipped through her.

"What's happening?" he asked her. She was right there, but she wasn't.

Wide-eyed, Santana stared at her own arms as they started to disappear. Gasping, muted, Santana looked up at Kurt.

She mouthed one thing, "Save Brittany."

And then she was gone.

As soon as Kurt got into his car, he was calling, "Blaine! Blaine, please! I can't do this by myself! Blaine!"

"Shhhh."

Kurt didn't realize he was crying until arms wrapped around him and he started shamelessly sobbing.

"B-Blaine, what happened? Wh- oh my God!" Kurt cried, holding Blaine close. "One minute, she was fine..then the next..."

Blaine ran his hands up and down Kurt's back as Kurt gripped tightly to Blaine's shoulders.

"And Santana. What happened to her?" Kurt asked into the crook of Blaine's neck.

"I don- She's gone," Blaine said sadly.

Pulling away, Kurt looked into Blaine's face. Despite the fact that the only light illuminating each other was a flickering street-light, Kurt saw the sadness from Blaine's words in Blaine's eyes.

"Gone? Like really gone?" Kurt said, hollow.

"When she disappeared to you, she disappeared to me too," Blaine confirmed.

"Does that mean Brittany's... Is Brittany...?"

"Brittany's in surgery, but I heard the doctor's talking. They said if Santana had called for them even a minute later, Brittany would have been dead."

Pulling away completely, Kurt hugged himself, suddenly feeling cold.

"She saved her," Kurt mumbled.

"She loved her. I don't think it has anything to do with Santana being Brittany's angel. I was on the other side; Santana didn't even think twice before she did what she did."

"And now she's gone," Kurt said sadly.

"And now she's gone," Blaine repeated. Kurt wanted to ignore it, but he heard the tone nonetheless. Scared.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

"What?"

"Your wings. I need to see your wings."

Blaine stared at Kurt for a second. When Kurt jerked his head, wordlessly saying, I'm not joking, Blaine squared his shoulders and extended his wings into what little space there was to spare in the closet.

Kurt gasped.