„Mrs. Anderson Ma’am, this is Janet. May I come in?” Blaine’s mother lifts her eyebrows in wonder about the servant’s anxiety. “Of course Janet. The door is open.” The little girl walks in quickly and heads straight to the wardrobe. “Ma’am, you have to put on your life jacket and make yourself ready to go outside. Everyone is ordered to meet there. Your son can use this extra jacket.” She comes back, handing the jackets to them. Blaine and his mother stare at her in shock, moving very slowly to grab them. “There is no reason to worry, I’m sure they are just taking precautions.” And with that she is out of the room again. Blaine’s mother stares at the door for a moment before finally reacting. “Okay darling, put the life jacket on, we have to find the others.”

It’s loud in the great hall, even louder than usual. Stewarts are serving drinks and snacks, the musicians are playing a joyful tune and the life jackets don’t match the picture, not at all. Blaine’s mother is looking around constantly, trying to catch a glimpse of James or Maria, while Blaine is staring at his feet simply, still not able to process what had happened during the last two hours. Of course he had checked if Kurt was there when they entered the hall, but neither him nor one of the other Hummels were in sight. He isn’t looking forward to see Maria again either, but he knows he has no choice, after all she is still travelling back home with his family. “Blaine!”

Oh right. He is part of that family too.

Blaine hasn’t seen his father this angry in a long time, and that means something because his father seems to be angry all the time. His mother notices as well and wraps an arm around him reassuring. “Could you please explain to me the fact that Mr. Williams came to me a few minutes ago, telling me that my son broke his engagement? You better tell me that this is a misunderstanding!” Blaine holds his head up, determined not to show the slightest sign of fear or guilt. “No, it’s not. It’s the truth.” He expects his father to explode immediately, but at first he just stares at Blaine with a blank expression. Blaine sees the vein at his neck coming out, pulsating quicker every moment. After a moment which feels like hours for Blaine, his father’s brain has processed Blaine’s words. “How dare you! After all I’ve done for you? After twelve years of engagement with her? I gave you everything you needed and you can’t even manage this little business for me?” Blaine’s father’s voice is quiet, but colder as ice, and Blaine wishes he screamed instead. “No. And you know why? Because this is no business to me! This is my future, and I can’t be myself, or happy for that matter, when you sell it and I have to share it with someone I don’t love!” Blaine’s father is boiling with anger. “You don’t even know what’s good for you! I do, and I know that this connection is good for you and the company. You’ll understand as soon as you have to run it, that every connection in counting. And I won’t let you ruin your future like that. Because that is what you are doing here!” No it’s getting hard for Blaine to control himself. His mother looks at his father pleading. “Please James; let him make his own choices.” But not even her words and her hand on his shoulder are able to calm Blaine. “I don’t want to run that damn company! And I’m sick of you telling me what I have to do! My whole life was planned at the day I was born, but that was your plan, not mine! Why don’t you get it that I have plans for myself?” Blaine turns his gaze away from his father in order to calm his pulse and breath, when Mr. Andrew’s anxious face catches his eye. He knows him well enough to understand that something is terribly wrong and that there is a reason for them standing here in life jackets. Not even paying attention to his father anymore, he shakes off his mother’s hand and hurries over to him. “Mr. Andrews. What is going on?” Mr. Andrews just stares at him for a second before he grabs his shoulder. “Listen Blaine, this is very important. We collided – with an iceberg. The ship is sinking and we only have about two hours left. We can’t tell it everyone yet because we don’t want to cause a panic, but you have to get together all the people you love and go to the safety boats. We don’t have enough space for everyone, do you hear me?” And with that he was gone. “Blaine? Blaine, is everything alright?” “Blaine! How dare you running away like that! I’m not done with you boy!” Blaine feels adrenaline rushing through his body, and sweat is forming on his forehead as he tries to understand the meaning of Mr. Andrews’ words. He doesn’t even realize his parents coming over to him and only his mother’s hand touching his shoulder brings him back to reality. “Blaine! What is wrong with you? What did he say?” Blaine’s mother sounds truly concerned, and even his father is showing a slight hint of fear. “The ship is sinking. The ship is sinking and they don’t have enough boats. We only have about two hours until the ship is full of water.” Blaine’s mother presses her hands against her mouth and Blaine’s father stares at his son in shock. Blaine’s mother speaks first. “We have to get Maria and go to the boats immediately.” But Blaine shakes his head. “I have to find Kurt.” His father’s anger seems to be gone just a little bit and is mixed now with a lot of confusion. “Kurt? He is not even part of this family. Why would you care about him more than about Maria?” But Blaine just glares at him. At this moment it doesn’t matter to him if his father knows the truth, if he’s okay with it or not. Because all that matters to Blaine right now is Kurt. “You have no idea what he means to me.” He starts to leave, but turns around once more. “You know what? You are right; you gave me a lot of things, but the most important things you weren’t able to offer. Because all I’ve ever wanted was your support and your love. Since you couldn’t offer it, I had to look for it somewhere else.” With that he turns away from his father and walks away without looking back once more.

Blaine’s legs feel like jelly as he stumbles along the corridors again, still hearing his mother’s voice calling after him.

It doesn’t matter, they’ll be safe. But Kurt has no idea. And I need to know that he’ll be alright. He might doesn’t want me in his life anymore, but I can’t simply stop to care. Even if I’ll never see him again, I would kill me not to know if he’s alright.

He has already searched for Kurt at every place he could think of being likely for Kurt to go to, the café, the gym, the deck, but he was nowhere to be found. So Blaine’s last hope is Kurt’s room. Luckily he remembers the way to it, so finally he stands in front of the door he woke up behind this morning, not knowing how the day to come would change his life. He takes a deep breath and knocks hard a few times, but there is no answer from inside. He notices the door being open a little bit. “Kurt, are you there? Please, I have to tell you something very important! Kurt!” but there seems to be no movement. Blaine swallows hard, feeling a lump forming in his throat. What if something happened already? He shudders, not willing to continue that thought. “I’m coming in Kurt!” and with that he enters. Blaine sees that the room is empty immediately, the bed is made and there is no jacket lying around. He walks over to the pictures, inhaling deeply to catch the scent of Kurt surrounding him. Without thinking, he takes the picture of Kurt and his parents out of the frame, folding it up and putting it in his pocket, after looking at it for a few moments.

Kurt was sad if he would lose it. I have to give it to him. If I find him.

Suddenly in a hurry, he rushes back to the door. Just as he is closing it behind himself, Carole is running towards him. The spark of relief that he was feeling at the sight of her dies as soon as he sees the tears streaming down her face.

“Mrs. Hummel! What happened? Where is Kurt?” Without a word she pulls him in her arms, holding him as close as she can. “I-I’m so sorry. He – He told me he wanted to be alone… Go for a walk. I knew I should have gone with him.” She cries even harder. “He went to the front. When the ship collided I tried to find him, but a steward told me that they c-closed the bulkheads to keep the water in the frontal part and I couldn’t go there. Kurt c-couldn’t come back. H-He had no chance.”

It feels like the world stopped, turned cold and quiet around Blaine. He can barely breathe and he feels like he has to throw up. He would have fallen, if it wasn’t for Carole’s arms wrapped around him. “No.” All he can do is whispering that word over and over again, as if it could change the truth, not willing to believe that it is over.

That he would never see his face again, hear his voice, feel his skin under his fingers, see his smile lightning up Blaine’s whole world.

No.

Even when people around them start to panic and run to the exits he just stands there.

“Blaine, I have to go and find the others. I lost them and I don’t know where they are…” Carole’s voice finally pulls Blaine out of his trance.

I have to help her. For Kurt.

“Come with me. We’ll find a place in a safety boat for you. I’m sure the others are clever enough to get to the boats by themselves, and we have to hurry up because there isn’t enough space for everyone.” With that he pushes her in the direction everyone else is running in. The closer they get to the exit, the harder it is to stay together. People start pushing each other, always trying to get out first.

“Blaine!” Blaine’s head turns around automatically at the sound of his mother’s voice. Maria’s arm in her hand, she makes her way through the crowd. Blaine stops and lets people pass until she reaches him. “Thank god, I thought I wouldn’t see you again…” Her hug is bone crushing. “Did you find…?” Blaine only manages to shake his head. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Surprised, Blaine turns to look at Maria. She looks at her feet, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. “I’ve been thinking, and – you were right. We spent a lot of time together, but we never understood each other completely. And I think you have made the right decision.” They look at each other for a moment, Blaine seeing nothing but honesty in her eyes. Finally he nods in understanding and appreciation. “Let’s try to find a boat.” After a few minutes of shoving, they make their way outside. A few feet away a boat gets lowered, the next one is half full already. “Let’s try it here.” Blaine is pushing them through the mass of people, mostly men, standing in front of the boat. “No sir, I said only women and children at the moment!” The steward has to scream to get heard. Blaine turns around to face the three women behind him. “Come on, you heard him. Go get a seat.” He helps Maria and Carole sitting down before he turns to his mother, hugging her tightly and placing her next to Maria.

“I love you Blaine.” Her eyes are full of tears and Blaine has to swallow hard. “I love you too. I’ll find father. And I’ll see you soon, I promise.” He turns around and makes his way through the people.