“Hello, Mr. Hummel. How was your weekend?” Against Kurt’s will, flashes of his night with Blaine burned behind his eyes and he was glad George couldn’t read minds.

“It was lovely,” Kurt said, his cheeks slightly flushed. “And yours?”

“Primarily uneventful.” Kurt nodded. Silence drifted over the two of them.

“What did I miss during the meeting on Thursday?”

“Not much. Chet had to leave early because he had a vision of Brittany choking on a quarter and Santana left soon after, so we didn’t really get a chance to talk.” Kurt blinked at his Keeper.

“How did she even-?”

“Chet wouldn’t say.” Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly closed it again. He would have to ask him about that later. “Was there anything specific you were going to say?”

“Emma said she felt a chill in the hallway yesterday, but couldn’t detect anything. I think you all need to be a little more careful.” Emma Pillsbury was the school’s Guidance Counselor and one of its three Observers.

“She couldn’t detect anything?”

“She said she looked around the hall, but no one stuck out. I fear some may be flying under the radar.”

“Wait, but that means- if they can’t be detected, Blaine…” Kurt felt like he was going to throw up. If there were people able to walk around without being detected, the men after Blaine could be walking right in front of their eyes, unseen.

George bit the inside of his cheek. “Kurt, I know you want to protect Blaine.” Kurt stared at his Keeper with controlled nonchalance. Where the hell was he going with this? “But I think he might be safer with the-”

“No.”

“Kurt, please, think of Blaine-”

“I’m the only one who is! You know what they’ll do to him, George. They’d experiment on him. They don’t care about him. I’ll lock him and myself in a bomb shelter if I have to; no one is touching him.”

“Kurt,” George began, but stopped and sighed heavily. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.” Kurt continued to stare unwaveringly at his Keeper, the fight still ignited in his eyes. “Your decisions affect everyone. Not just Blaine. Not just you. Not just the Guardians in our town and their Paladins. This decision will affect everyone on Earth now and forever. I’ve always trusted you- hell, I was your biggest supporter in the debate of whether or not you should’ve been Blaine’s Guardian. I still trust you, Kurt, and will be behind you no matter what you choose. However, I hope you’re not too blinded by hatred to see the benefits of having the Superiors take care of him.”

Kurt looked away, unable to stare his Keeper in the eye any longer. He knew George was right. He knew he was being extra harsh, but Kurt also knew that, for whatever reason, he didn’t fully trust the Superiors. He was fairly sure they would use any means to get their end, but George seemed to be supportive of them. However, Kurt didn’t trust so blindly. He stood by his decision to keep Blaine as far from them as possible, but he owed it to George to at least pretend to think on it. “Fine,” Kurt said finally. “I’ll give it more consideration. But don’t expect me to change my mind.” George seemed to relax a little in his chair.

“Thank you, Kurt.” Kurt nodded.

“I should get going. Don’t want to be late for French.” Kurt turned and walked out of the room.

“Kurt!” George called and Kurt froze, poking his head back in the door. George held up his index and middle finger, pointing them toward the sky and then curling them halfway. It was a sign of respect, typically done in recognition of someone who’d, in some way or another, helped their world in a significant way, such as a veteran from one of the wars. Kurt inhaled sharply, the act taking him by surprise. He didn’t know what to say, so he nodded once and left, walking through the empty hall as the shrill of the bell bounced off the lockers.

The hall filled with students almost instantaneously and Kurt tried to keep up his brisk pace, but the sea of people forced him to slow down. He was turning a corner when he felt someone grab his arm and pull him into an empty classroom. Kurt whirled around, expecting to find one of the jocks from the swim team. “Blaine? Is that you?” The lights were off in the room and the blinds in front of the window on the opposite wall were drawn tight, making it difficult to see clearly.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Blaine said, his voice cloaked with an emotion Kurt couldn’t put his finger on.

“Is everything okay?” Kurt asked. He hadn’t had a vision, so it was pretty safe to say Blaine was unharmed. Never the less, Kurt thought he’d feel better if he could see him. Kurt sidestepped around Blaine’s general direction and moved to the switch on the wall, flicking on the lights. When he looked back at Blaine, he felt like he had been punched in the gut. “What the hell happened to you?” Kurt asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I went to the bathroom last period…”

Blaine was at the sink, washing his hands, when he heard a stall door unlock and open. Blaine glanced through the mirror at the person, offering him a nod. Blaine knew him from the swim team; Toby Henderson. “Hey, Toby,” Blaine said as turned off the faucet. He moved to grab a paper towel when suddenly his face was colliding with the mirror, cracking the glass and giving him a sizeable gash on his forehead.

“Blaine, it’s been- what, sixteen years?” Toby said. His voice was different, almost like it was made of the shards of glass from the mirror, making Blaine cringe. Blaine turned and faced Toby. “You look well.” Blaine saw movement in in the corner of his eye and glanced down to see that Toby’s arm was… changing? The flesh began to move, almost bubbling, as his bones seemed to elongate and expand. Within a few more seconds, it turned into a large metal fist. “Cool trick, huh?” Toby said before raising it up and hurling it toward Blaine’s face. Blaine jumped to the side, hearing a break in the air as the fist whizzed past his ear and slammed into the wall behind him, shattering the mirror further and sending shards of glass across the room. Blaine winced as a few hit his exposed arm.

“What are you?” Blaine asked through clenched teeth, his fear becoming more prominent. Toby didn’t respond, instead retracting his fist and pulling it behind him, getting ready to attack again. That’s when Blaine felt it. It was as if every cell in his body were ablaze, the fire being fueled by his fear and heating up the blood in his veins. It felt…empowering. Do something, a voice said. Like what? Blaine asked. Transfigure.

Blaine looked at Toby’s fist, then felt his own hand tremble. He looked down and saw that it was bubbling, just like Toby’s had, and then it became an identical metal fist. Blaine’s breathing became fast and shallow as he stared at his new hand. How the- Blaine looked up to see Toby’s fist coming at him, but somehow it seemed to be in slow motion. What-? Even if he was moving sluggishly, Blaine knew he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to dodge the fist. I wish my face was made of m- He felt the change begin before he could even finish the proper thought, and screwed his eyes shut as Toby’s fist came into contact with his jaw.

But he didn’t feel a thing. “What the hell?” Toby asked, back to regular speed. Blaine reached his normal hand to his face, but it felt hard, as if it were made of the same steel metal as his hand. “How did you-?” Blaine felt a sudden wave of excitement. I got my power. “You’re not-” Toby began, but Blaine wasn’t listening. He felt powerful. He felt invincible. Blaine smiled. He began thinking quickly, never formulating complete thoughts because he knew he didn’t need to, but he began altering certain parts of his body. He gave his metal fist large spikes. He made his other arm into a tentacle-like whip.

Blaine lashed out his tentacle arm and grabbed onto Toby’s fist, keeping hold of him in one place before charging his spiked first forward. Apparently Toby had the slow motion ability too, because he was able to grow another arm before Blaine’s attack reached him. Toby grabbed hold of Blaine’s fist with one that seemed to be made of rubber and with his new hand he punched Blaine in the gut. Blaine fell back and his back plowed into the sink. Blaine winced and straightened himself up, getting ready to retaliate, when he felt another blow to his chest.

Blaine slid to the ground and looked up at Toby. Where did that hit even come from? Blaine wondered. Toby smiled wickedly and suddenly he felt like he was being kicked in the ribs. Blaine doubled over in pain and began to change again, this time making his whole body as hard as he made his face, but the invisible force kicked him one last time before he was fully covered. Wait, that’s it, isn’t it? Blaine thought. He’s invisible. Blaine felt that fire again and he saw another figure appear. It was like a blurred outline, almost as if the person was transparent, but they had a ring of blue smoke that emanated around them. “Fuck!” he heard Toby say above him. Blaine looked down at himself and saw that he too was made of the blue smoke. I’m invisible…

Blaine pushed himself up from the floor, ignoring the pain in this middle, and whipped his tentacle arm forward, catching the invisible man in its grasp. “How are you-” the man began, but Blaine came forward with his metal arm, smashing it into the other guy’s face before he could finish speaking. Since he was still transparent, he couldn’t tell if the blow did any damage, but judging by the way his body slumped, it had done its job. Blaine released him from his hold and the body dropped to the floor. A second later he became visible and Blaine had to force himself not to retch at the sight of his disfigured face.

Toby looked down at the newly appeared body, his eyes widening and his lips parting in shock for a split moment before he caught himself. He looked around the bathroom in slight contempt, trying to see any sign of Invisible Blaine, and turned to run out of the room. Oh, no you don’t.

Blaine turned his metal fist into a large wooden mallet and swung forward, whacking Toby on the head. The force of the blow made Toby’s body falter, lean to the side, then fall to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Blaine felt his limbs return to their normal state. He held up his hand, watching as it returned to its normal color and opacity.

Blaine sucked in a sharp breath as he looked around the bathroom. Glass glittered on the floor and there was more blood than Blaine remembered being splattered. Blaine felt bile rise in his throat and covered his mouth with his hand as he retched.

Blaine turned toward one of the untarnished mirrors and inspected his head wound, finding a clear trail of blood beginning to dry on his forehead. With shaky fingers, Blaine turned on the faucet and wet a paper towel, cleaning himself off as best as he could. He lifted his shirt, not seeing any bruising yet but he could practically feel the blood pooling beneath his flesh.

Just then the bell signaling that class was over sounded though the bathroom. Blaine quickly left the bathroom and rushed down the hallway as students exited their classrooms. Blaine didn’t know where he was going, he just knew he needed to see Kurt. He needed to tell him everything that had happened, but more importantly he just needed Kurt to hold him.

“I tried to access the powers again, but-” Kurt ran forward and pulled Blaine into him. Blaine was stiff for a moment, but then seemed to melt against his chest, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s waist and burying his face into Kurt shirt. Kurt held Blaine as tight as he could and ran his fingers through Blaine’s curls.

Kurt felt Blaine’s body begin to shake and he held on tighter, wanting nothing more than to take away his pain. Blaine let out a sob, the sound muffled by Kurt’s chest but still made Kurt’s heart ache. He felt tears prickling behind his eyes and blinked a couple times to will them away. He had to be strong for Blaine.

Blaine pulled back after another minute, his eyes red and puffy. Kurt moved one of his hands from Blaine’s back and wiped at the stream of tears on Blaine’s cheeks with his thumb. “Kurt?” Blaine asked, his voice sounding raw. He took a shuddering breath and Kurt vowed at that moment to make sure Blaine never felt like that again. “Will you…”

“What? Anything, Blaine. Anything you need.”

“Will you erase my mind?” Kurt couldn’t say he condoned, but seeing Blaine like that, he looked so small. Sure, Blaine was a petite guy, but he looked younger. Blaine usually stood tall and confident, but now he looked scared and innocent. He really wanted Blaine to be better, but- “Not everything. Just the… vulgarity. Can’t you like, blur it out or something? Sensor it? I want to remember, but I can’t. I can’t see that, Kurt. I don’t-” Blaine’s voice cracked and cut off, braking in his throat. Kurt blinked back his tears again as he placed his fingers to Blaine’s temple, know perfectly well that he was about to see everything that had happened. And this time, it would be worse, because he hadn’t saved Blaine. This wouldn’t be a possible future; Kurt would be seeing the past that he wasn’t able to prevent.

Kurt went through Blaine’s mind and quickly found the images to render. Kurt bit his lip as he saw all the blood and mangled flesh, wincing as he saw Blaine getting beaten and feeling what Blaine had been feeling. Kurt worked as fast as he could, blurring images and distorting things so Blaine wouldn’t have to see them- so he’d never have to see them. Once he was finished, Kurt placed a small kiss to Blaine’s lips. Blaine instantly kissed back, bringing his own hands to cup Kurt’s cheeks.

“Thank you,” Blaine said quietly against his lips. Kurt didn’t say anything back, just kissed him once more, hoping that the feel of Blaine’s lips would help him forget the horrifying images he could now add to his repertoire of Nightmare Inducing Visions.