In High School things got harder for Kurt.

The bulling had gotten worse. Lima wasnt big and once Kurt started at McKinley High everyone already knew he was gay. Even if he hadnt been out already, he felt they would have known just by looking at him. He wasnt someone made to blend in.

The jocks seemed to target him specifically, calling him names, shoving him into lockers and throwing ice cold slushies in his face whenever they got the chance.

Kurt hated it. It was painful, both physically and emotionally. But he kept strong, he wasnt going to let anyone get him down. Especially when he had just under 750 days left until he met his soulmate! He held onto the fact that he was one of the lucky ones who was goibng to met thier soulmate young. He could take anything if he knew there was someone out there that loved him.

In his Sophomore year things got a little better. Kurt saw the sign-up for Glee club and knew he wanted to join.

Singing always made him feel better, more connected. Being in a group of people who loved music as much as he did had to be a good thing.

New Directions ended up being a roller-coaster of drama and song, but it was good. Kurt loved it, he finally had friends. The bullying didnt stop, but Kurt was better equipped to handle it now.

"Hey freak!" Kurt turned his head from his locker to see one of the big football players standing behind him.

"What do you want Azimo?" Kurt asked with a sigh. He didnt have a slushie in his hand, so that was good.

"I was talking to the boys and guess what we figured out?"

Kurt sighed before he straightened his back and looked his tormentor in the eyes. "Oh please, enlighten me." He said sarcastically.

"We figured out your timer must be a fake. No way you have a soulmate. For one, someone gay cant have a real soulmate. And B..." He said, leaning in close as he pushed Kurt up against the locker.

Kurt winced in pain.

"Who could possibly love you?" Azimo finished.

Kurt sucked in a breath as Azimo grabbed his wrist. "I bet this just peels right off doesnt it?" He laughed as he started scrapping his fingers against Kurts timer, the numbers reading 361.

"Stop!" Kurt shouted, fear coursing through him. Not his timer. They could say and do what they wanted to Kurt, but they couldnt take that.

"STOP!" Kurt yelled again as Azimo kept his wrist locked in a stony grip.

"Hey, whats going on here?" Azimo and Kurt looked to see Mercedes and Tina standing nearby.

"L-leave him a-a-alone!" Tina stuttered, her face flushing in anger.

Mercedes walked up and poked a finger at Azimos chest. "We arent going to have a problem here, are we?"

Azimo rolled his eyes and then raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever." He said and started to back away. He turned and looked back at Kurt. "If it is real, can you imagine how disappointed your soulmate is going to be when they met you?"

Kurt held his wrist tight against his chest, hugging it with his other arm. His heart was pounding and his eyes were filling with tears, but he wouldnt cry, he wouldnt let Azimo win.

"Oh K-kurt!" Tina said.

"Im fine." Kurt answered pushing off of the locker bank. "Nothing he says matters, nothing anyone says changes the fact that my soulmate is waiting for me. That I get to met him in just under a year from now."

Mercedes smiled. "Thats my boy! Never let them get you down, they arent worth it."

Kurt smiled weakly and followed the girls to lunch.

For the rest of the week though, Kurt carried his wrist carefully, glancing at it often and brushing his fingers against his timer protectively. He was already so in love with this soulmate that he hadnt even met, and his timer was their only connection.

In bed at night hed whisper to his timer, "I hope youre okay. That people dont bully you like this. I cant wait to meet you." He pressed warm lips against his timer, even though he knew it was silly. He would even sing sometimes like he did as a child.

A little under a year, thats all he had left. The time couldnt move fast enough.

Kurt was 16 when his world came crashing down around him for the second time. Losing his mother when he was just a child had shaken him to his very core and changed the person hed become. Youd think that fate had dealt him enough blows, but it seemed that wasnt the case.

It had been a few weeks since Azimo had tried to rip his timer out of his wrist and Kurt was still very protective of it.

He was sitting on the couch with his dad, a football game playing in the background. Kurt wasnt paying much attention to the game, instead he was flipping through a magazine and enjoying the quite evening in. Every once in a while unconsciously rubbing a thumb over his timer.

Kurts heart started pounding in his chest, beating so fast it hurt and thudded in his ears like a drum. He sat up letting the magazine fall to the floor, his breath growing shor as panic started to over take him.

He clutched a hand to his chest and tried to count his breaths. Was he having a heart attack? Is this what a heart attack felt like? Then he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, like it had been slammed against something hard. He let out a cry of distress as he stood from the couch and then fell to his knees on the floor.

"Kurt!" He dad shouted getting up to kneel beside him. "Whats wrong, are you okay?"

Kurt tried to catch his breath and answer, but instead he doubled over as he felt a punch to his gut.

"Oh god!" Kurt managed to cry out before he fell to his side, his whole body assaulted with pain and fear.

"Kurt!" His dad sounded frantic and he could feel his fathers hands hovering over him, trying to discern what was wrong.

Kurt kept crying out as pain blossomed out through his abdomen and his shoulder, across his cheek... He curled up in a ball on the floor sobbing and shouting as the assault continued.

"D-dad!" He called in fear, he didnt understand what was happening to him. This wasnt a heart attack, it felt like he was getting the shit beat out of him.

Oh god.

Finally it clicked. Kurt was safe. He was at home with his dad and no one was here to hurt him. So if Kurt was safe that meant his soulmate...

"No! No!" Kurt shouted, still protectively curled up as the painful sensations continued. "Leave him alone! Please. Please. L-leave him a-alone!"

Tears streamed down Kurts face as his dad gathered him up in his arms. He held him tightly and Kurt could hear his dads breath hitch, he was crying too.

Burt must have come to the same realization Kurt had because he started rocking him back and forth repeating, "Hell be okay. It will be okay. Hell be okay."

It didnt feel like hed be okay though. It felt like his soulmate was having his bones broken and his skin bruised. Kurt could almost taste blood in his mouth.

It felt like it would never end. But finally it did. Kurts body still drummed with pain, but it was fading now. Whatever had happened to his soulmate must be ending. Kurt stayed tucked against his fathers chest, crying and shivering.

"I... I need to find him." Kurt finally said. "What if he is alone, or needs help. What if... what if he needs me?" Kurt asked, his voice cracking with emotion. "I have to find him."

"Kurt." Burt said wiping tears from his sons eyes. "It doesnt work that way you still have..." Burt gently lifted Kurts wrist and looked down to see how many days were left. But then he froze his face turning sheet white and his grip on Kurts wrist tightening.

"What?" Kurt said, pounding heart still in his throat. "Whats wrong?" Kurt glanced down to his wrist expecting to see the number 340 on his timer. Kurts heart skidded in his chest and suddenly he felt light headed as pure, vein chilling fear filled him.

Kurt blinked, knowing there had to be some mistake. His timer read 000.