There it is, Kurt thinks, our tree.

“Home sweet home.” Blaine says bitterly.

This tree is one of the only places they’ve been to more than once. Normally its get an apartment, stay for two months to the date, leave, find a new apartment, and so on and so forth. But this tree is outside of the city. It’s in the collection of not-quite-tall-enough-to-be-a-mountains-but-still-are-anyways mountains. Rowan, as the flock calls it (because it’s a rowan tree), is on the one mountain that’s further than all the rest and has dangerous cliffs that only idiots climb, and those people don’t normally make it as far as the tree.

The kids and Madi land on their old/new home and arrange themselves around Kurt and his bag, looking warily between the two.

--                                                                                                                                                                                                    --               

All the kids look at the safe. It’s the only thing left standing. Everything else seems to be burned beyond recognition. Everything, but this safe.

“Kurt, can you open it?” Blaine knows that Kurt’s the only one who would know the passcode. But he shakes his head.

“I might be able to do it…” The flock turns in surprise.

“Brittany?”

“Yepp. Just let me try?”

“Go at it.” Kurt motions to the safe’s general direction, smiling to himself.

“Kay.” Brittany steps over something melted and plastic to get to the safe. Once it’s in front of her, she crouches down to its level, and taps it three times. Those taps sound like rolling thunder in the otherwise silence. Britt cracks her knuckles and puts her fingertips on the door of the safe. Focused, she breathes out, and scrunches her fingers, as if she’s merely balling up a piece of paper. And, just like paper, the metal bends in on its self and breaks the hinges. Brittany tosses the door aside and gapes at the contents.

When she looks up and sees the other kids, she rolls her eyes. “Stop staring at me and look at what’s in the safe.” She says exasperatedly, and points to the broken piece of metal. When the flock finally looks at it, their faces become comical, and Madi snorts. Santana shoots her an evil look.

“Je regret, Madame Santana.” Madi replies in a sarcastic tone.

Britt looks at Kurt. “What should we do with all of it?”

“What is ‘all of it’?”

Victoria thinks it into his mind, and he immediately feels relieved. Now they aren’t truly helpless.

“We should put it in my backpack and use it when we need it. Blaine, do you remember where the other stuff is?” The short boy thinks for a moment then nods his head quickly before walking off. When Blaine returns, the rest of the flock looks ready to go and the safe is emptied.

“Blainey-Bear, what is that?” Mercedes asks, pointing to the Tomb-Raiders lunchbox in his hand. Blaine and Mercedes are much like Kurt and Victoria; they share an almost daughter-father bond. Blaine’s so protective of her, and she makes him happy. Hence, Blainey-Bear. ( Although, when that started, no one knows.)

“Me and Kurt got this a few months ago when the white coats first attacked us. They’re ID’s, birth certificates, social security cards, and guardianship papers saying me and Kurt are your guardians. These papers are our lives. We need them to do anything that’s legal.” Of course, we had to do a whole lot that wasn’t legal to get them, Blaine thinks.

“Come on, we should go. I don’t want to stay here for long. They could be watching us.”

With that, the flock takes off, heading for the next best place.

--                                                                                                                                                                                                    --

“So…what should we do with it?” Brittany asks.

“We get essentials with it. Food, clothing, shelter. That’s it. I don’t know how much is there, but it’ll go quicker than you think.” They all nod, knowing that Kurt is the most practical and knows what he’s doing. “Also, I want to throw out an idea.”

Victoria cocks her head to one side, closes her eyes, and concentrates. She didn’t remember picking up on anything weird in his head earlier, but it has been a crazy day, so anything could’ve slipped through the cracks. After a minute of poking around in Kurt’s head, her body stiffens, and her face goes pale.

“Are you crazy?! You can’t honestly think that will work.” Victoria says in a voice that only a preteen can pull off.

“It has to Victoria. I don’t have any more back up plans. I have no tricks up my sleeve, and I can’t keep doing this to you guys. We need something stable.” I need something stable.

“Kurt, what the hell is freaky-bugs talkin’ about? Since the rest of us can’t read your mind, we have no idea what all this-” Santana says, motioning to the air “-is about.”

Victoria looks at the other kids, and very calmy informs them. “He’s putting us in school.” Ever heard of silence before the storm? That’s what just happened.

“ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHAT DO YOU THINK WE’RE GOING TO DO? GO AND BE NORMAL?! WE AREN’T NORMAL. THERE IS NO NORMALCY IN OUR LIVES! YOU LOCO MOTHER--”

“What would we do with our wings?”

“I don’t get this. What is school? Can Lord Tubbington come?” Three kids talking at once is too much noise for Kurt to handle.

“SHUT UP! YOU ARE GOING TO SCHOOL. WE ARE NORMAL, AND WE WILL HAVE STABILITY.” Kurt yells. He knows that it’s been a really, really bad day, but he can’t stop the words flowing out of his mouth. He can’t breathe anymore. “This is not negotiable! Me and Blaine have wanted to do this for a while. I can’t teach you anymore because you don’t listen during the lessons. You are going to school, Blaine is getting a job, and I am going to track the WhiteCoats. We are all going to be doing something more than sit at home all fuckin’ day!”

Kurt has his face scrunched in frustration, and he feels like he’s going to cry. It’s the first time he’s ever used his authority like that, and he doesn’t like it. But he wants them to be able to go to college, so they can fight for Other’s rights with knowledge and understanding of how the government works. They could be governors, or presidents, or they could change the whole fuckin’ system. Kurt just wants them to be able to do something other than hide. They’re too special to keep hidden.

Santana opens her mouth to say something more, but Victoria shakes her head.

The flock sits in silence for what seems like hours, all thinking about what could happen, and how they’ll get away with being surrounded by humans for hours at a time.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, loves. Why don’t you all sleep for the night. It’s been a long day.” Blaine suggests in a much quieter tone than Kurt had used, trying to calm the kids down. Murmured agreements are made, and they all give Blaine and Kurt hugs goodnight. Santana fights the twins over the biggest branch. She wants to sleep with Britt, but the twins have always, always, slept together. They sort it out, the twins take then next biggest branch, and they’re all asleep in minutes.

“I’m going for a walk.” Kurt whispers lowly in Blaine’s ear. Blaine nods, and starts to unpack his things. He feels the branch dip with Kurt’s shifting weight. Kurt extends his wings, and jumps off, floating effortlessly to the ground.

Which way, which way? Kurt thinks to himself. Oh! I know!

Kurt turns to the river (hearing the sounds of the water), and starts stumbling at an amble pace. No rushing, no hurry. Just leisurely taking a walk like any other teenager. When he hits the banks, he turns to his left, and he smells what he was looking for. He found it last time they were here. That was months ago, and he’s wanted to come back ever since. It’s his tree. Not the flock’s tree, that’s a Rowan tree. Kurt isn’t one hundred percent sure, but he thinks this is a Willow tree. It smells like a Willow, and when he walks underneath it, he has to part the hanging branches, and they feel like they have Willow leaves.

He climbs up his tree, not wanting to fly. He grabs for the first stable-enough branch for him to sit on. When he settles down, he feels the scratches on his hands and a bruise on his leg from hitting Rowan when they were landing. No one in the flock knows that this happened, not even Blaine. Kurt pulls up his pants leg, which is really hard because he’s wearing skinnies. He feels a huge bump where he hit his shin, and wonders how gruesome it must look.

The flock is so, I mean me too, we’re all so fuckin’—

“Hey. You should really get that checked out. That looks gruesome.”

“Woah!” Kurt fumbles for something to hold on as he teeters on the edge of his branch. How the fuck did he get so close? Wait?! “Fang?!”

“ ‘Fraid so Babycakes.”

“But, what?” Kurt is freaking out.  Sure he may have heard Fang’s voice at the apartment, but the WhiteCoats took him away a year ago. He can’t really be alive. No, this must be a trap. “I thought. No. No…Fang is dead…they killed him. Who are you?” Kurt becomes panicked, not knowing what to do. “BLAINE! BLAINE! COME HERE NOW!!” Shit. He’s hiding from the flock. They have no idea where he is. They’re all sleeping. And to top it off he’s sitting with a stranger, who’s pretending to be Fang. “BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINE!”

“I’m right here, relax. What’s wrong?” Blaine takes a once over of Kurt, seeing if anything has physically harmed him. He notices a humungous bump/bruise on his leg, but he’s otherwise unharmed. When he looks up to see if anything is around them, he snorts. Of course, he thinks, this is just so fuckin’ typical. “What up Fang? Thought you were dead.” Blaine says in a snarky voice.

“So does Kurt. Can you tell him I’m not, please?” Fang says, shaking his head and smiling to himself at the old antics of the outside world. This is so Kurt-like. Does he really think I’d just die and leave him here?

“Kurt, Fang’s not dead.”

Kurt shakes his head in disbelief. What the hell is going on?! Think, think, think…is that really Blaine. Does it smell like Blaine, does it sound like him? Check and check. So wait…is that really… “Fang?” he says tentatively.

“It’s me…I know you’re probably mad at me, and you’re going to just tell me to go away in a bit, but I was kind of hoping to sleep on this branch, so let me chill for a bit? I’m really tired.” Fang says, always the pessimist.

“Fang!” Kurt leaps at the air in front of him, only catching on to the other boy’s shirt, but Fang grabs his sleeve and pulls him in, holding him tightly.

“They kept me for so long.” Fang whispers in his ear. “So fuckin’ long.” Kurt notices that Fang actually sounds emotional, and when Blaine sees the boy’s eyes, he notices tears in Fang’s eyes. Considering this never happened in the years Blaine knew Fang before the White coats took him, he decides to leave the two alone. He wishes he could be the one Kurt wants, but if Kurt is happy…that’s all that Blaine cares about.

“I’m so sorry.” Kurt whispers. “I should have kept you safe; I should’ve been with you. I’m so, so sorry.” Kurt feels tears leak from his eyes without permission.

“Shh, it’s ok baby. I’m here now.”

--

Where’d I put it? It has to be in my bag…

“It’s right here.” Blaine spins on his branch, surprised to hear Victoria.

“Umm, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“Were you looking for your cutting kit? I found it in your bag. I took it. All your stuff was dirty, so I stole you some new stuff. I know you’re wondering why I’m not lecturing you considering you just had your head say it. I’ve done it. So has everyone in the flock. I don’t think you’re going to kill yourself. So, as long as you’re all safe about it and junk, I won’t say anything. Just don’t be stupid.”

With that, Victoria handed him a small bag,-not his old one, which was, admittedly, dirty- and turned to walk off.

“I’m sorry” Blaine says so low Victoria isn’t sure if she heard it right, but she’ll take it as it is, for now.

When the girl is gone, Blaine cries.

He feels shame this time…it’s the first time he’s felt it this strongly.

--

“Hey kids! Wake up!”

“Huh? Wha’s happen’n?”

“Let’s get up sunshine.”

“Who are you?”

“Awww, you don’t remember me?” Fang frowns. How long has he been gone? It wasn’t that long, was it? Although, they do all look way older…

“Wait, you look like…Nah. He’s dead. Sorry. No idea who you are.” Santana shook her head, knowing it couldn’t possibly be—

“Actually, I’m that dead guy…”

Santana snorts, and looks to the other kids to see what they think. All of them are looking at him like he’s crazy.

“Prove it. What’s Kurt’s birthday?”

“May 31st.”

“What’s his favorite ice-cream?”

“Bluebell vanilla strawberry. You can ask me anything you want or you can ask Kurt if I’m for real. I prefer the ladder of the two.”

“Kurt!”

“What?! I’m sleeping!”

“They want to know if I’m alive.”

“He’s alive! Now let me sleep!”

“He was up late. I didn’t get here until after you were asleep, and I had a few things to explain, so we were up until dawn. Let him sleep. Who wants to go into the city for breakfast?” Fang says, clapping his hands, and looking like a nut.

The flock looked wary. It could be a trap. Kurt said assume everything is a trap unless proven otherwise. So, it’s a trap.

“It’s not a trap.” Fang says with a smile.

“But--”

“Kurt told me you would think it was a trap.”

The rest of the flock was still wary of all this commotion.  “Can we go? I’m starving.” Blaine steps forward on his branch, ready to leap off.

“That’s cool with me.” Fang jumps, using his wind magix to fly, while the bird kids join him using their powerful wings. They all fly close to each other (well, the flock flies together, and Fang flies on the edge of the flock.) into the city. When they start seeing people look at them and point, they land and take the El.

“Alright, Kurt said the plan is to eat brunch, then find a library to research the best schools, so we can find an apartment that’s in a good school zone. He’s going to meet us at the mall that you go to,” Fang says, pointing to Santana, “around 2. So I think we should make all of our adventures quick and in a hurry because that mall has to be a twenty minute flight away from here.”

The flock, minus Kurt, all nod and start going off in different directions, looking for places they like to eat at. Four of them, Santana, Britt, and the twins, go off in one direction, leaving Fang and Blaine standing there awkwardly.

“So…”

“So…”

“Know any places to eat?” Fang asks, filling the silence.

“Yep.” Oh my god, Blaine thinks to himself, cutting my arm to shreds has to be more pleasurable than this is going to be. “Should we go?”

“Yep.” Oh my freaking god.

“Cool.” Please, take pity and kill me now!

Blaine and Fang start walking towards this diner Blaine used to go to when he had hangovers to order coffee. I don’t know if I’ve ever actually had food here…Blaine thinks to himself as the two approach the diner.

They get inside, and Fang gives Blaine a ‘Really? You eat here look?’.  Blaine just shrugs and they sit down in a secluded corner.

“You said you’ve been here before?” Blaine nodded. “And you decided to come back?”

“Well, all the other times I was either drunk and trying to sober up or hung-over and trying to get…not hung-over…” Blaine’s sentence trailed off as he looked around the diner looking for a waiter. “Hold on. Lemme go get Danny.” Fang grunted in response, so Blaine stood and walked off.

Kurt never mentioned that Blaine used to drink. I wish I could remember what happened before they got me. I should know this crap…

When Blaine comes back, he’s holding two cups of coffee. He sets one in front of Fang, but the other boy doesn’t notice it. Blaine would say something to break Fang out of this little spell he’s in, but, honestly, he doesn’t really want Fang to be talking and chatty. Blaine, by no means, wants to be anything remotely close to friends with this guy.

“I didn’t exactly choose you either, ya know.” Fang finally looks away from whatever it was he was looking at, and grabs his coffee.

“What?” Blaine asks, also kind of in his head a little too much.

“I said, ‘I didn’t exactly choose you either, ya know.’” Fang says, sounding tired and put upon.

“Oh. Um…what the fuck? How did you…wait, you should’ve, I don’t know, mention that you can read minds. At least be up front about it, like Victoria.” Blaine had no idea that Fang could read minds.

“Don’t worry, Blainers, I’m not picking up on your deepest darkest secrets. I only pick up on thoughts pertaining to me.”

“Oh. Weird. But still. Not cool.”

“Yeah, but helpful…in some cases.” Fang goes silent, again, after he says this. Blaine tries to stop thinking about him, but he can’t because he keeps thinking about Kurt, and now that Kurt knows Fang is alive, they aren’t ever going to be separate. Hence, Blaine’s never ending Fang thoughts. He wonders what the silent, dark, and twisty boy is thinking, but then again, Blaine isn’t sure he actually wants to know. So, like his thoughts around Victoria, he thinks whatever the hell he would if there were no one there who could read his mind.

This is much easier to do when Danny comes with their food. Blaine sort of just stops thinking, and Fang is again…or not really again, just still…silent. The time passes more quickly when the two boys ignore each other, and when they’re done they leave a twenty on the table and walk out.

They start towards the main library in this particular neighborhood.

“Where is this building again?

“Belmont and Broadway-ish”

Fang nods, though he has no idea where those streets are, he’s not really even sure why he asked. He recognizes the signs of the medicine forever pumping through his veins starting to kick in. Disorientation, lack of interest in food, the sinking feeling (like being underwater and having everything feel and sound like it’s in slow-mo), and he wants it to stop. It never will of course. The WhiteCoats had found him to be a very interesting experiment because he seemed to be able to withstand anything they put him through. This, of course, meant that he was subjected to more things than the other experiments. For instance, they figured out a way to make his brain produce a chemical unnatural to his (or anyone else’s for that matter) body.

Normally, when he starts to feel these things, he would tell a WC. That’s what the procedure was. But he didn’t have one on hand, and Fang wasn’t really sure what would happen if he didn’t get treated. He guessed he would find out one way or another now.

All of these thoughts happen in a matter of seconds, and he realizes that they are where they set out for a few minutes ago. The Boys-Town public library. Fang and Blaine enter silently, although this isn’t really a challenge for either of them. They sit down at two of the computers, and start to look up schools in the area.

--

Santana, Brittany, Victoria, and Mercedes are already finished with their brunch, and have just arrived at the mall. The twins head off to the arcade. Mercedes will work a little mind control stuff, and the two girls will get to play free for hours.

Santana and Brittany have much better things to do. First, they go see Abuelita. They talk for a few minutes, and then excuse themselves. The young couple grabs coffee and finds a table to sit at in the crowded area.

“Soo…what’re you thinkin’ about?” Santana asks Brittany. The older girl doesn’t really know how to do this courting thing. It’s like she actually has to try.

“Sawdust.”

“Umm…that’s…very—”

“Oh my god! San? Is that you?!” Santana cringes as she hears an all too friendly, all too familiar laugh.

“Wow…what are you doing here?” San asks unenthusiastically.

“Oh, you know the normal. Shoplifting with my dad’s credit card in pocket, getting coffee, running into ex-hookups…” With that last part, the girl throws a wink in Santana’s direction.

“Ooo my goodness!” Brittany claps excitedly, “You’re one of them too! I swear we’ve run into about four of those already, haven’t we sweetie?” Britt puts one hand possessively on her girlfriend’s arm, the other shoots out in an offer to shake. “I’m Brittany.” She informs the other girl.

“Hi, I’m Zoantia, but most people just call me Zo.” Zoantia grab’s the blonde’s hand and gives it a firm shake, but when she goes to pull away, her hand is stuck. Brittany’s eyes are a much lighter, brighter, colder blue, and her skin feels extremely cold. Her face has gone slack, as if she has no emotion, and no control.

Brittany’s hand starts to turn an ugly purple, and she starts to shiver. Zoantia feels very cold and she dawns on a pleading look, trying to get Santana’s attention. San jumps up and tries to do something, anything to help the two girls. She doesn’t know what happened. She tries to pull the two apart, but her hand jumps back when she feels their temperatures.

Santana’s girlfriend’s body feels hot to the touch everywhere other than her hand, connected to Zo. That hand, much like the cat demon’s skin, feels frozen. It’s hard and freezing to touch. And all of the sudden, as if Britt felt the other two’s desperation, her hand let’s go of Zo, and the girls fall away from each other, passed out.

Brittany is shivering as if she couldn’t be colder, and Zoantia is sweating as if it were 110 degrees in the mall. The twins come running up, and Santana silently pleads Victoria to do something, not being able to find her vocal chords. Victoria sends a 911 thought to Fang, Blaine, and Kurt. Not knowing what to do, they sit there, anxiously waiting, surrounded by strangers, staring as they pass.