10.

"And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust…"

Two days.

"Kurt…"

Kurt scowled at the sound of his father's voice floating into his room from his bedroom doorway, his expression immediately easing out and a whimper bubbling up out of his throat at the shockwave of pain that shot up his nerve endings at the slight movement.

It'd been two days since Kurt had last laid eyes on Blaine, and in those last two days, his body had practically turned itself inside out. It hurt to move. It hurt to blink, to breathe. What had started out as a dull buzzing beneath his skin had gradually morphed into a heavy, immobilizing ache. Kurt couldn't help but feel a slight bit of animosity towards the person keeping him away from his boyfriend, because of that.

After being ripped away from the restaurant, and Blaine's arms, Kurt had been taken back to their family home in London, which wasn't too far from the Ministry. If Kurt would've had any type of energy to attempt such feats, he probably would've tried to go and find Blaine. Or do something remotely constructive, something other than lying in his bed wasting away, minute by minute.

He curled up a little further on his bed, pressing his face into the plushy pillow on his bed and burrowing himself under his blankets, even though the feeling of the fabric brushing over him kind of made him want to jump out of his skin.

Kurt swallowed thickly and winced, his voice coming out as a gravelly grunt as he said, "Go away." He gave a soft, annoyed hum when he heard his father shuffle further into the room.

"Kurt, I know you're upset." Burt murmured quietly as he took a seat beside his son's prone form on the bed. He had half a mind to reach out and touch him, but thought better of it at the last second. "I know you probably won't now, but eventually you'll be able to understand—"

"Understand what?" Kurt hissed, sitting up on his elbows and turning glaring eyes on his father, even despite the pain. "That you're willing to put my boyfriend in jail over one stupid mistakeand let me rot here under the pretense of some—"

"Mistake?" Burt said, his voice growing slightly in volume. "Is that what he called it? He raped you, Kurt—"

Kurt flinched slightly, but his eyes were still blazing. He reached up, running his hand through his hair, pulling hard at the strands. He had a couple things he wanted to say, things like "I know that. I was there." But he knew saying that wouldn't help his and Blaine's case any.

"He didn't mean it like that." Kurt settled on finally.

Burt scoffed a little under his breath, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter, Kurt. I put laws like this in place to protect people like you from people like him, who think they can just take whatever they want and get away with it."

Kurt scrubbed a hand over his face, over his eyes to brush away the tears that were starting to well up. He knew his dad was right, goddammit, he did. But it still hurt to have Blaine so far away from him, both physically and not. He was worried sick at the thought of his boyfriend locked up in a cell somewhere.

Kurt bit his lip, looking at his dad, his eyes pleading. "I-I—You have to let me see him."

Burt's eyes stormed over a bit at that, and for a second, Kurt thought for sure he was going to say no, but then, "You'll see him soon enough." He stood up and walked out of the room without another word.

Kurt figured that by the time "soon enough" came, he'd probably need someone to carry him around.

Three days.

Finn came into Kurt's room early on Tuesday morning, kneeling down on the edge of his bed to shake him awake. "Hey. Kurt?"

Kurt grumbled a little bit to himself, hissing a little at the dull ache Finn's touch brought on. He shrugged off the hand, blinking his eyes open—he hadn't been sleeping anyway. He couldn't, without Blaine—and slowly turning over to face his brother. "What?"

"Uh…" Finn startled back at Kurt's sharp tone, blinking quickly. He gave the back of his head an awkward scratch, glancing toward the open door and taking a small step towards it. "Breakfast is ready."

Kurt rolled back over to face the wall, trying to tame his glare, because really, it hurt him more than it did anything else. "I'm not hungry, Finn."

Finn shifted slightly in his spot, noticeably uncomfortable. "I know that's not true. You've barely eaten anything since we've gotten here."

"I'm not hungry, Finn." Kurt said sharply, tugging the blanket up over his head. "Get the fuck out of my room."

Kurt was more than a little surprised when the blanket was pulled off of him, and the bed, completely. He shivered at the blast of cold air that hit him, looking up with wide eyes to find that Finn was staring down at him, a small frown on his lips.

"Look, Kurt." Finn started slowly, "I know you're sad about Blaine, or whatever. I still don't really understand what's going on with that—but you're not gonna do him any good if you don't start taking care of yourself."

Kurt stared up at his brother for a moment before he dropped his gaze. Tears started to pool in his eyes, then fall, spattering wet drops all across his silk pajama top. "I know, Finn. But I—I can't."

"Kurt, yes you—"

"No." Kurt interrupted firmly, moving his eyes back to meet Finn's. "You don't get it. I physically can't. Being away from Blaine like this makes me sick—it makes me ache to the point where I can't move. It hurts to."

Finn gaped at Kurt a little, his eyebrows slowly starting to knit together. He glanced fleetingly towards the open doorway again before moving to his brother, sitting beside him on the bed. "Does Burt know? That it, like, hurts to be away from Blaine or whatever—"

"Of course he does. He doesn't seem to care much though," Kurt muttered, annoyed.

"He's willing to just let you…" Finn sputtered uselessly, "Even though it…"

"Apparently."

The two of them were quiet for a few moments, and Kurt already knew what was coming, what Finn was preparing himself to say. He could practically feel it.

"Hey, Kurt?" Finn said quietly. Kurt gave a questioning hum, letting his eyes slide back shut as he relaxed against his pillows. "I know you probably don't really want to talk about it… But the other day, you know, in the restaurant." He trailed off after a moment, but then, "It took me a while to get it, but I overheard Burt having a Floo-call this morning and I just—Did Blaine really do that to you?"

Kurt bit his lip, almost tempted to lie—but if Finn had overheard something, there was really no point in doing that, now was it? "Yeah." He whispered, his eyes fluttering open to gauge Finn's reaction.

Finn didn't really have much of one, to be honest. He only stared back at Kurt, his eyes narrowed in thought. "That day… When you came to my dorms—was that it?"

Kurt nodded slowly, studying Finn closely. "You're not mad?" He asked, a little surprised.

"What?" Finn jumped a little, "No—I mean—yeah. That asshole put his hands on you without your permission—but… um." He blinked, scratching the back of his head lightly, then lifting his gaze back up to meet Kurt's. "I'm not really clear on what's going on. And you don't seem to be too upset about it—well, not anymore—so I just… I don't know—"

"I get it, Finn." Kurt said finally. "You're not mad because I'm not."

"Why aren't you, though?"

Kurt paused for a second, considering. "I really don't know." He said after a minute, scrubbing a tired hand over his face. "I just kind of understand why he did it. He was only acting on his instincts, it's the way he was taught, Finn—he didn't fucking know any better. I'm the only one that seems to get that, though…"

Finn raised his hand, to touch or to comfort or something, but Kurt quickly shook his head, and Finn lowered it with a slight pout. "You're making excuses for him."

"Wh—"

"I think I get why. You care about him, right?" Kurt nodded a little. "And you don't want people to say bad stuff about him, and you don't want him to go to jail… but to everybody else it just seems a little weird because, at the end of the day, he did force himself on you and you're not even upset about it."

"Finn." Kurt said after a moment, lowering gaze as he started to struggle to sit up. "I—I don't really want to talk about this anymore, if that's all right with you."

"That's fine." Finn nodded and stood, walking over to the door. He stopped in the doorway when Kurt let out a barely muffled cry of pain. He turned, gripping the doorframe tightly as he watched his little brother strain to get himself into a sitting position. "Does it really hurt that bad?"

"Yes." Kurt muttered irritably, shooting him a glare. "It does."

Finn stood there for a good five minutes, watching Kurt and considering all their options before he finally let out a soft sigh and, "You should get dressed, Kurt."

"For what?" Kurt looked up at him again, but this time he froze, noticing something in Finn's expression. "What're you planning?"

"I… I'm going to take you to see Blaine."

Kurt's eyes widened a little and he was excited for all of a second before his face fell again. "My dad would never let you—"

"He's not here right now." Finn interrupted. "And my mom doesn't get home from her shift at the hospital for another few hours. If we're gonna do this we need to—"

"I can barely move Finn, let alone walk—"

"Then I'll fucking carry you, okay? You're only going to get worse staying here, and Burt might be prepared to let that happen but—But I'm not. Get dressed." Finn gave him a look, gestured a little wildly toward the closet before shutting the bedroom door behind him.

Kurt stared after him, more than a little surprised at just how much he cared… because nobody else really seemed to.

"So how exactly are we supposed to get in here?" Kurt asked as he and Finn stood outside the gates of the Ministry, staring up at the daunting, grey building.

"What're you talking about?" Finn shifted a little, slipping his arm around Kurt as he started to slump a little beside him.

Kurt thanked him quietly, tightening his fingers on Finn's waist, crinkling the fabric of his jacket in his fist. Kurt was more than a little dismayed to find that, the closer they got to the Ministry, the worse the "symptoms" of being away from Blaine got, when it was usually the opposite. He knew that Blaine was still in there, he'd heard his dad saying something about holding him there until the trial, which still didn't have a solid date.

Kurt just wished he'd done a better job of protecting him.

"What, you were planning for us to just walk in?" Kurt asked incredulously, "I don't think so."

"Uh, yeah." Finn said. "If they ask us anything, we'll just say your dad said it was all right. You know where the holding cells are right?"

Kurt thought about it for a moment, remembering the dumb fieldtrip they'd taken last year to the Ministry, then nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

"Okay." Finn directed them towards the gate, then up the path leading to the door. "We'll just go straight there."

Kurt didn't even bother to point out how faulty he thought Finn's plan was. They'd already come this far and he wasn't about to back out now. Not when he was in this much pain. He had to at least fucking try.

It's to say, Kurt was pretty damn surprised they got all the way to the entrance of the holding cells without getting anything besides "Good morning!" and "How're you kids doing today?". When they got there, however, there was a single guard hovering outside the door, and when he noticed them, he straightened, his eyes flying almost comically wide.

His fingers tightened a little around the wand in his right hand, his eyes flicking nervously toward the door behind him. "Can I—Can I help you boys with something?"

"We're here to see Blaine." Finn said simply. He gestured to Kurt, who's legs were very nearly about to give out. "His dad sent us up here. He said it was okay."

"I-I'm not sure… I don't think I'm supposed to—" The guard stuttered, visibly uncomfortable.

"Are you calling us liars, now?" Kurt said suddenly, sharply. "I'm sure my father will be very pleased to hear—"

"Okay!" The guard interrupted, turning around to press his wand against the keyhole on the door and quickly pulling it open. "Okay. Fine." He ushered them inside, then stepped inside himself before shutting the door. "I'm pretty sure you two are trying to play me—I know goddamn well I'm not supposed to let anyone in here but you," He gestured to Kurt, giving him a sympathetic once-over, "Look like you're about to pass out and there's only one thing that's going to fix that, so… I'll give you two a few minutes."

Kurt muttered an almost inaudible thanks, his eyes moving away from the guard to land on his boyfriend, who was only several feet away from him in his holding cell. Blaine was lying quietly on his bed (or what Kurt thought was meant to be a bed—it was really only a concrete slab protruding out from the right wall. His hair was sticking up all over the place, his outfit the same one he'd been wearing two nights ago at the restaurant. Kurt watched as Blaine snapped to attention, the movement so sudden it nearly startled him back a step, his nose lifting to the air and sniffing for a second before his eyes went straight to his mate.

"Kurt?" The name fell out of barely parted lips, spoken softly, just above a whisper.

Kurt let out a soft sound, nothing short of a whimper, as his gaze met Blaine's for the first time in what felt like forever. He startled a little at the jolt that went up his spine as their eyes connected—it made Kurt's breath catch, filled him with something warm and unexplainably intense. Before Kurt even realized he was moving, he was all the way across the room, tightly clutching Blaine's coat as they made a mess out of trying to hug each other through the narrow bars.

He only half heard Finn yelling at the guard about something, only really becoming aware of it when the guard tried pulling him away from Blaine.

Blaine growled loudly, his hand quickly darting through the bars, latching onto Kurt and pulling him in closer.

"I'm not trying to take him away from you, Anderson." The guard said carefully. "Just let go for a second, take a few steps back."

Blaine narrowed his eyes, which had gone almost completely black as soon as the guard had stepped up beside his mate, and did as he was told. The guard watched him for a moment to make sure he was going to stay put before slowly stepping up to the bars, pulling a key out of his pocket and pressing it into the lock before pulling his wand out to get rid of the second, and third, level of magical locks.

"I'm going to let you in here with him." The guard said, eyeing Kurt. "But I'm going to have to lock the door back once you get in there. Are you all right with that?"

Kurt nodded, thanking the guard profusely before he slid the cell gate open a slight ways, just enough for him to be able to step inside. The gate closed behind him with a heavy creak, but the sound had barely even registered as at that very moment, he was enveloped tightly in Blaine's arms.

"Fuck." Kurt breathed out a long sigh, sagging in relief as the aches and pains and stiffness he'd felt over the past couple of days completely melted away at Blaine's touch. Kurt hugged him back, just as tightly, and felt him do the same.

The two of them were soon sitting in a near-heap on the cold, concrete floor, Kurt practically in Blaine's lap as they sat side by side, still hugging each other. Kurt felt his throat start to tighten and constrict as it suddenly hit him. Really hit him.

Blaine was in jail.

Kurt was sitting next to Blaine, who was in jail, in the cell where he was being held for "Unsolicited Claiming" charges Kurt didn't even want to press.

"A-Are you—" Kurt started to ask, but Blaine knew him too well.

He lightly brushed his fingers over Kurt's unstyled hair—he hadn't had the energy to bother with that, this morning—as he said, "I'm fine."

"No you're not." Kurt argued, though he didn't lift his head up from Blaine's shoulder. "You're in jail, Blaine and it's… it's all my fault."

Blaine squeezed his arm firmly, waiting until Kurt was meeting his gaze to say softly, "No it's not. You and I both know that none of this is your fault, Kurt."

Kurt put his head back on Blaine's shoulder and nuzzled his face into the crook of his neck, letting his eyes shut as a wave of tiredness washed over him.

"It still kind of feels like it."

When Kurt's eyes opened again—it was to yelling. He blinked his eyes groggily, realizing he must've fallen asleep. It would make sense, given the fact he hadn't been able to have a proper night's sleep without Blaine by his side.

He was lying flat on his back on something hard, something he figured must've been the concrete slab of a bed—with Blaine stretched out on top of him, his face buried in Kurt's shoulder. He wasn't sleeping, not by any means. He was in full out veela mode, with his fangs and his dark, dangerous gaze. While Kurt was sleeping, Blaine had apparently taken it upon himself to reopen the mark he'd made on Kurt's shoulder, two months ago on their claiming night.

Kurt left him to it—it didn't hurt, not really—lazily carding his fingers through Blaine's messy dark curls before letting his head loll to the right so that he could see what was going on outside the cell.

His dad stood tense, a deep scowl on his face as he stood across from Finn and shouted obscenities at him. Finn himself looked a little confused, as he always did, and more than a little defensive.

"You had no right, Finn!" Burt shouted. "I left you at home with Kurt with clear instructions! One goddamn rule you had to follow!"

Finn's eyebrows lifted slightly, "Well, you didn't bother to mention the fact that Kurt would be in pain! I wasn't going to sit there and let him stay that way." His shoulders slumped a little as he continued, glancing over and briefly meeting Kurt's gaze before looking back at Burt. "I'm not wired like that. I'm not you."

Burt flinched, visibly. "Just because I don't want my son around this monster—"

"It's practically killing them to stay apart—"

"He raped your brother, Finn." Burt said loudly, his eyes wild as he pointed jerkily at the couple on the bed. "Now tell me I don't have a reason to be upset about this."

"You do. You do—it's just. It should be Kurt's choice," Finn said quietly, sincerely, "Whether or not he wants to press charges against Blaine. I mean, they're soul mates, Burt. Kurt knows him best."

"I don't care what Kurt wants." Burt growled. "I am pressing charges against him for what he did, if it's the last thing I do."

Kurt's eyes moved away from the pair up to Blaine, who was still mouthing messily at his shoulder. "Honey." Kurt swept a few stray strands of hair back off of the veela's forehead, his throat tight. He waited until Blaine met his gaze to continue. "Wh-What do you want me to do?"

His head tilted to the side just so, questioning. "About what?" He asked softly, starting to slowly pull himself up until he was straddling Kurt's waist, his palms pressed flat against his chest. There was blood smeared all around his mouth and a thin line of it going across his cheek, making him look a bit more vampire-esque than usual.

"About you, here. How do you want me to help you? I-I don't know what to do, Blaine. What do I do?"

Blaine stared down at him for a long moment, his eyes still dark, a telling sign that his veela was still pretty close to the surface. His fingers curled over his pectorals, almost stroking the skin over the thin shirt that Kurt wore before he sighed shortly and, "Nothing."

Kurt stared back up at him, his eyes wide. "N-Noth—"

"Nothing, Kurt." Blaine said, a little more loudly this time, startling the pair outside the cell into silence. "As in go home or go to classes, or whatever. Just—I don't want you fooling around with this stuff."

"It's not stuff, Blaine," Kurt argued, trying to sit up on his elbows, but Blaine only shoved him back down. "I'm not just going to leave you to rot here—"

"No, Kurt." Blaine interrupted. "No. Just… no."

Kurt gave him a level look, ignoring his dad who was trying to get his attention. "Blaine—" he started, exasperated.

"No!" Blaine exploded, his eyes narrowed into a glare that wasn't entirely directed at his mate. "I don't want your fucking help, okay?"

Kurt stared up at his boyfriend with wide eyes that were just starting to brim with tears. "B-Blaine—"

"Kurt," Blaine sighed softly, though he was still glaring, and brushed his thumb just under his mate's eye. "Kurt, I don't want you help." He said quietly. "I don't deserve it." Kurt opened his mouth to interrupt, but Blaine held up his hand. "I don't want it. I won't accept it."

It only took Kurt a few seconds to fully register what Blaine had said, and another for the full out sobs to start. Blaine scrambled off of him to gather him up in his arms.

"Come on now, Kurt." Burt called out, his voice loud but still a bit hesitant. "You've been here long enough. It's time for us to go home."

Kurt clung tighter to Blaine—he wasn't ready to go. There was really no telling when they'd be able to see each other like this again. He pressed his face into Blaine's neck, intending to inhale in his scent to have something to remember him by tonight when he was at home and curled up all alone in his bed.

Kurt choked halfway through the breath, letting out a broken sob. "Oh my god." He groaned as his eyes started to water even further and his nose started to sting. "Oh my god, Blaine, you smell."

Two weeks.

Burt was seated upstairs in his study, bowed over his desk with his face buried in his hands. A thick folder lay open in front of him, the paper just on top anxiously awaiting his signature. He slid his hands down his face, peering from just over the top of them at the quill next to the stack of papers, and then the dotted line.

He didn't know what to do.

Sure, he wanted his son to be happy. Of course he did. But what if his son being happy meant that he had to let his rapist go free?

That might make Kurt happy, but Burt knew if he did that he'd never be able to live with himself.

Burt gnawed nervously on his bottom lip, slowly reaching for the quill.

There was a soft knock on the door, and a second later, Carole poked her head around it to look into the room. "Burt, honey," She said softly, giving him a warm smile. "Dinner's ready."

Burt glanced up at her, then back down at the papers. "I'll be down in a minute."

Carole nodded a little, studying her husband closely. She stepped further into the room, shutting the door back behind her. "Are you all right?"

"Carole." Burt said slowly, giving her a nonplussed look. "You know I'm not."

"Have you… still not decided, yet?" She asked, her voice light and tentative.

"No." Burt said, after a moment. He rubbed roughly at his eyes and slammed the quill back down on the desk. "I know what I should do…" He mumbled, "I just… Kurt—"

Carole moved across the room quickly, coming up behind her husband and wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders. "I know, sweetie." She said softly. "I know it's hard. But I know in the end, whatever you choose, it'll be the right thing for this family."

Carole left only minutes later after giving a few more words of encouragement, and Burt sighed shortly to himself when he was alone again. He stared hard at the door, then moved his eyes back to the papers that were meant to confirm Anderson's trial date.

Before he could convince himself otherwise, he quickly grabbed the quill and scribbled his name on the line, tossing the thing aside when he was done and sitting back in his chair, exhaling a hard breath.

It was for the best.

Three months.

In the Muggle world, most people didn't get trials immediately after they went to jail for committing their crimes. The wizarding world wasn't any different.

The past few months had been more than a little difficult for Blaine and Kurt, but things had gotten considerably better when they discovered that drinking a small amount of each other's blood staved off the effects of the separation for a while. A week, to be more specific, but after that the aches and pains came back tenfold, almost like a downhill rush off a high.

They'd concluded that staying apart for longer than a week was practically a death sentence. And, to be honest, Blaine and Kurt both only lived and breathed for their hour long Sunday visits.

The trial was set for a Wednesday, of all days, and Kurt was worried beyond belief. He already knew Blaine was going to be convicted—this far in, he'd be kidding himself to think otherwise—but what if they gave him the death sentence? What if they slammed him with the maximum amount of years in jail they could give—what would that do to their relationship?

How the hell were they going to get through this?

Kurt nervously fiddled with the frilled ends of the scarf lightly draped around his neck as he watched as the courtroom slowly started to fill with supporters and naysayers alike. His gaze immediately shot down to his lap when he spotted a few of Blaine's friends giving him dirty looks from across the room, and felt his eyes start to well up even as he tried to ignore them.

He knew they probably didn't know the truth—that this wasn't Kurt's fault. That he actually, legitimately, didn't want Blaine to be sent to prison or… die. That Kurt had tried his best to get his father to throw out the case, to spend time with Blaine just so that he could see what an amazing person he was even despite all the horrible things he'd done.

He knew they probably didn't know that, because the only people that were allowed to visit Blaine in his holding cell were his family and Kurt. But that didn't stop their obvious assumptions from hurting him. Adding the fact that Kurt had been starting to become friends with them as well only made it worse.

"Hey!"

Kurt looked up, startled, immediately locking eyes with Cooper, who was looming over him with a bright, warm and welcoming grin even despite the time and place. He stood up to greet him, his knees wobbling a little as he brushed off his pants and stuck out his hand. "H-Hey—"

Cooper frowned a little at Kurt's outstretched hand, squishing it between their bodies as he wrapped Kurt in a tight hug. Kurt felt himself relax fully at his reassuring touch, raising his arms up to squeeze him around the middle as well. "You doing okay?" Cooper mumbled into his hair, then pulled back so that he could meet his gaze.

Kurt nodded quickly. "I'm fine. I think I—I…" His voice died on a soft squeak when he looked off over Cooper's shoulder and spotted Blaine's parents only a few feet behind him. "Um." He pulled away from Cooper, taking a small step back away from him. "I think I should—"

"Kurt." His gaze immediately shot back up to Cooper's at the seriousness of his tone. "My parents aren't mad at you. Neither am I, for that matter, because, Kurt—none of this has anything to do with you." He sighed a little, rolling his eyes with a small, mirthless smirk. "I'm not afraid to admit that my little brother is a jerk, and what he did to you wasn't right."

Kurt swallowed hard as his eyes started to burn—but he refused to let the tears fall. He'd done his fair share of crying over the last few months. "I… Thanks, I guess." He said quietly.

Cooper laughed. "You don't have to thank us. Come on, let's sit down."

The four of them sat down, Finn and Carole joining them ten minutes later. Kurt caught sight of his dad a few benches ahead of them, just behind the barrier separating the general seating from the plaintiff and defender's stand.

In any other case, it'd likely be Kurt's dad up on the judges stand—seeing as he was Minister of Magic—but he hadn't been allowed to this time because of his "closeness" to the case. Kurt stared at him for a moment before his attention was drawn away by a door opening on the side of the courtroom. Blaine was led into the room by an armed guard, looking cleaner than he had any other time Kurt had seen him over the last few months. He was dressed in a dark jumpsuit Kurt had never seen him in before, his wrists bound magically in front of him.

Kurt could see, even from this far away, the way that Blaine's nostrils flared as he scented the air. His head whipped back and forth as he quickly scanned over the crowd before he finally found who he was looking for. Kurt bit his lip into a small smile as Blaine met his gaze and the other boy smiled widely back, lifting his bound hands to give him an exaggerated finger wave.

Cooper chuckled quietly from his spot beside Kurt, shaking his head. "You two, I swear."

The trial itself ended up being more of a reading of all the laws that Blaine had broken, as the veela had already admitted to everything, and was (for reasons that Kurt was still unaware of) willing and ready to accept any type of punishment he was given. The judge had only just left to go and determine what kind of sentence Blaine would get.

Kurt only became more and more nervous with every second that passed, and he figured it was starting to show, as Finn and Cooper kept giving him half-annoyed looks.

Cooper finally sighed a little and reached over and grabbed Kurt's hand where it was twisting the hem of his shirt, his voice nothing short of a whisper when he leaned in and said, "He's going to be fine, Kurt."

"You don't know that." Kurt bit out, quite a bit sharper and louder than he'd initially intended. He gave him an apologetic glance, which was accepted with a small nod, and turned his gaze back up front to watch Blaine. "Sorry." He said after a second. "I just don't appreciate being given false hopes."

Blaine's brother hummed quietly. "Well, I can say for sure that we can cross Avada Kedavra off the list." He squeezed Kurt's hand a little as he continued. "Your bond with Blaine is too new for them to attempt that. Killing him would either kill you too, or, at best, you'd end up in the mental ward at St. Mungos."

"So… jail time then?"

Cooper nodded. "Yeah. It's just a question of how many years he'll get, and which prison they'll send him to."

Kurt didn't bother to respond, but he was secretly hoping that they wouldn't end up sending him to Azkaban. Only one other jail had been built after the war to keep up with the overcrowding that had occurred after all the death eaters and accomplices to Voldemort had been charged. The new jail wasn't amazing, but it was surely better than what Kurt knew Azkaban to be.

It was another half hour before the judge again graced the courtroom with his presence. He sat down behind the judges stand, and Kurt felt his entire body go stiff as the man opened his mouth to speak.

"This has… by far. Been one of the strangest Unsolicited Claiming cases I've seen. It was a bit difficult for me to decide what to do with Mr. Anderson, because he's so young, and because the mating between he and Mr. Hummel only occurred a short while ago." The man cleared his throat, pushing his thick framed glasses further up the perch of his nose. "So with that in mind, and after speaking with Mr. Hummel's father… It's been decided that Blaine Devon Anderson will serve two years in our most recently built maximum security prison."

The bang of the gavel startled him almost as much as Finn's arms around him did. He hugged his brother back distractedly, unable to pay attention to the other boy's ramblings for long before his attention was stolen away by his boyfriend being led by a guard out of the courtroom.

As if he'd felt Kurt's gaze on him, Blaine jerked around in the guards hold, his gaze immediately shooting to his mate. He stared for a moment before his head tilted in a curt, barely perceptible nod and he lifted his bound hands in a still wave.

Kurt lifted his hand, waving back even as he felt tears cloud his eyes as Blaine was pulled out of the room, out of sight. "Cooper, can't we—"

Cooper shook his head, staring off into the direction that Blaine had disappeared off to as well. "We'll see him soon enough, Kurt."

"Y-Yeah?" Kurt asked, his voice high and hopeful.

Cooper glanced at him, forcing a small smile. "Yeah."

Seven months.

Kurt glanced nervously around Blaine's cell, at the twin sized mattress lying on the floor shoved in the corner, the blankets a bit rumpled and hap hazardously strewn across it. There was an opaque privacy curtain in the opposite corner, shielding the toilet, sink, and a small, dank mirror. There wasn't much else in Blaine's cell, unless you counted he and Blaine, now.

Kurt had been in Blaine's cell a number of times over the past months, but it never failed to worry him how little there was to see whenever he visited. And if he would've been allowed, he probably would've brought a few things with him to brighten up the space.

But even still… "Are you sure you're—"

"I'm fine here, Kurt." Blaine said, slipping his arms from around his boyfriend's waist and moving across the room to plop down on the mattress. "Seriously."

Kurt sat down next to him, fingering the blanket between his thumb and forefinger, more than a little appalled at how thin the thing was. "You don't get too cold at night, do you? I—I could bring you more blankets if you—"

"Babe." Blaine said, letting out a little laugh and pressing his lips against Kurt's cheek. "I think I'm okay. Are you really gonna ask me that every time you come, now?"

"Sorry." Kurt laughed himself before settling into Blaine's side. "I just worry."

"I know you do." Blaine kissed his cheek again and buried his nose in his chestnut hair. "And I love you for it."

"Mmm."

It was Sunday, and both Kurt and Blaine had both been looking forward to seeing each other after a long week apart. Their visits had long since been restricted to a single hour, ever since his initial visit to Blaine, when Finn had helped him sneak into the Ministry.

The hour was well spent, catching up, the both of them purposely skirting around the thing weighing on both of their minds until…

"Do you feel it too?" Blaine asked suddenly, when they were silently counting down the last few minutes of their visit.

Kurt's grip tightened in the fabric of Blaine's jumper, and he tilted his head in a nod. "Yeah."

"It's… getting easier for us to be apart." Blaine stated, after a moment. "It doesn't mean our—our soul mate bond is getting weaker. It just means we can… start staying apart for longer periods of time and I…"

Kurt pulled away from Blaine slowly, trying to catch the other boy's gaze, but he wouldn't look at him. "And you what?" He asked, his voice shaking. But he couldn't help it—this was starting to sound a lot like one of those break ups he'd always seen on films at the cinema.

Blaine blinked, his gaze falling to his lap, but Kurt still wasn't able to pick up a single emotion from his placid expression. "And I… think that we should. Start spending less time together."

Kurt looked down too, though it was more so Blaine didn't see his tears than anything else. His voice was smaller than he'd ever heard it when he spoke up after an awkward, tense silence. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No…" Blaine said quietly, and Kurt felt himself relax until, "I'm letting you go."

Kurt jumped up, jerking away when Blaine made to reach for his hand. "Is that not the same thing?" He shouted. "Blaine, what the fuck?"

Blaine looked up at him, his eyes suspiciously misty. "I'm sorry."

"You're not." Kurt hissed, because if it was one thing Kurt knew, it was when the veela was lying. He folded his arms across his chest defensively, dealing Blaine his best glare. "So, what is it, then?" He continued. "Did I do something to piss you off?"

"Kurt, no—"

"No?" Kurt nodded jerkily, glancing off outside the narrow bars to the guard at the door. "You find someone better here, then?" He turned back to Blaine, then, his heart squeezing in his chest at the thought. "Someone you like better? Someone that actually fucking puts out?"

Blaine shook his head, his eyes wide. "Kurt—"

"What is it, Blaine?" Kurt's voice cracked halfway through the shout, and he took a step back away from Blaine when he stood, his arms tightening around his midsection as he started to cry in earnest.

"Mr. Hummel?" The guard called out, taking a step forward, away from his post. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

The man looked between Kurt and Blaine, his eyes narrowing. "I think it's time for you to leave, now."

"No." Kurt hissed, then turned back to Blaine. "I'm not leaving here until you give me a proper explanation."

Blaine sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Kurt—"

"Now, Blaine."

Blaine bit his lip, his eyes still misting, and just as the guard opened his mouth to speak again, he spoke up quickly, "I don't want you to be tied down to me, okay? Because you're never going to be truly comfortable, after what I did, and I don't want to put you through that, Kurt. I'm sorry."

Kurt looked back at him, his edge softening only slightly at the other boy's words. "But what about what I want?"

Blaine stared at him for a long second before shaking his head. "I can't."

"Blaine—"

"Kurt, I said no! Fuck."

Kurt felt his throat start to tighten uncomfortably, and he didn't want to be that guy, but here he was. "You're not breaking up with me." He said, his voice thick. "I won't let you. Not if that's your reason."

"It's—it's for the best, Kurt. You deserve better. Than me." Blaine waved his hand, gesturing the cell. "Than this. I'm here for two years, Kurt. And I'm not going to let you waste your time here with me."

"Blaine—" Kurt tried. "Blaine, I—"

"I want you to go, Kurt." Blaine said, though his face betrayed the sentiment. "I really, really do. I want you to go, and find some guy—" He froze, his finger halting in its pointed pointing as his eyebrows cinched together and he growled, "Not, Kiehl—but someone. And I want you to settle down and get married and have kids or whatever. I just want you to have a life." He swallowed heavily, his eyelids fluttering shut, a few tears escaping passed the tightly shut lids. "And you're not gonna have one, if you keep worrying about me, here. So I'm letting you go."

"Mr. Hummel—"

Kurt ignored the guard as he rushed forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Blaine, sobbing into his shoulder. "I fucking hate you."

"I know." Blaine chuckled wetly, his breath hitching a little as his arms came up to hold Kurt. "I know you do."

"And I'm still going to visit, even if we're not boyfriends anymore." Kurt continued, his voice muffled by Blaine's shoulder, but he knew the veela could still understand him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Mr. Hummel." The guard said, and both Kurt and Blaine startled apart. "I won't be asking you again."

Kurt rolled his eyes, hugging Blaine tightly again before pulling away and stalking over to the entrance of the cell. He glanced back at him while the guard worked on the locks. "I don't like this." He stated finally with a sigh, reaching up to rub his chest when his heart gave a dull, aching beat. "It's weird."

"It is." Blaine agreed, and stared after Kurt as he was led out of the cell. He waited until it was completely shut again before moving towards the bars, his hand coming up to wrap around the cool metal. "And I-I know I shouldn't, that I'm not allowed to anymore, but Kurt… I really do love you."

Kurt glanced back at him, already at the door leading out into the main. "I know." He said, softly. He resisted when the guard tried to forcefully push him out of the room, grabbing on to the doorjamb and hesitating for a split second before, "I really love you too."

One year.

Kurt thought it was a bit weird, visiting Blaine when they weren't boyfriends anymore. The veela no longer told him he loved him every given second, or kissed him mid-sentence every time he was saying something silly. Blaine hardly ever even initiated cuddles between them anymore, even though Kurt knew how much the other boy had liked them.

Blaine was keeping his distance, and Kurt wasn't completely sure how he felt about that.

The visits weren't awkward now, it was just strange for Kurt to be around Blaine and not have all the things he'd become accustomed to. It hurt a little, of course it did, that Blaine didn't want to be with him like that anymore, but he guessed he could understand the other boy's reasoning, even if he didn't agree with it, or like it, for that matter.

Kurt sighed a little to himself as he walked up the path to the doors of the prison, wondering what the hell he had been thinking wearing these types of robes mid-summer. He assumed he hadn't been, and blamed the mishap on the fact that he was nervous—and had every right to be. He hadn't been in to visit Blaine in just over three weeks, and he knew he had no proper reason to be nervous like this, not really—he and Blaine were practically best friends—but that didn't take away from the fact that he still was.

"Hey, Mr. Hummel." Blaine's usual guard greeted him, his expression suspiciously bright. "It's been a while since I've seen you around here."

Kurt nodded a little and gave a small smile, just enough to get him by the man and into Blaine's room.

It only took the man a second to realize that Kurt wasn't going to respond before he gave a nervous chuckle and, "I'm not sure if you've been notified, but Mr. Anderson's got himself a roommate."

Kurt felt himself go tense at the shady lilt of the other man's tone, his gaze immediately shooting to the door behind him. "A-A roommate?"

"Yep." The guard smiled, showing off his crooked teeth. "They're a bit busy."

Kurt felt himself go hot allover, first with anger, then with crushing sadness. "I-I…"

"Sorry." The man shrugged. "But I'd be breaking a few codes if I let you in there right now."

"Oh." Kurt felt his tears dry, the achy, sad feeling leaving him as he stared at the guard for a little bit longer, unblinking. He realized with sudden clarity that the man was lying, and for some reason, trying to fuck him over. Kurt had been around veelas far too much over the past year for him not to pick up on subtle ticks, and this guard had many.

Kurt squared his shoulders, looking the man dead in the eye as he said, "Let me in."

"Mr. Hummel—" The guard looked a little bit startled, at that. "I just told you—"

"Let me in. Now." Kurt stared at him for a second longer, waiting for him to move and when he didn't, "Or would you like for me to notify my father that you're pissing off your job? That you think it's funny to fuck around with me like this?"

The man's eyes were wider than Kurt had ever seen them, but he still didn't make a move to open the door. "Kurt—"

Kurt's eyes flashed at that, and in that next second, his wand was pointed directly in the man's face. "Open the fucking door, right now, Adam. Or I will fucking end you."

Adam scrambled to unlock the door, pulling it open with a loud, eerie squeak. Kurt shoved him back towards the door once he had Blaine's cell unlocked, gesturing between him and it with his wand. "You can go."

The man looked back at him, every sinew of his body practically screaming defiance. "I'm supposed to stay here."

"I think we're fine." Kurt hissed, jumping a little when he felt Blaine's hand on his arm.

"Kurt, it's okay."

"No it's not."

"Hey, hey…" Blaine pulled them back into the cell under Adam's watchful, and smug, gaze, wrapping his arm around Kurt's shoulders and asking quietly, "What's going on?"

"He tried to lie to me and say you were—were…"

"What?"

"Sleeping with someone." Kurt whispered, and felt Blaine go tense against his side for a split second.

The veelas next breath came out as a low growl, but when he spoke his voice was normal. "Oh, Kurt. You know I'd never do anything like that without checking with you first."

Kurt had the sudden urge to ask why the hell Blaine would be checking with him, as it wasn't his body, or his life, but he guessed he understood. Because he wouldn't do anything like that without asking Blaine if it was okay first, either.

"Don't pay attention to him, anyway." Blaine continued after a long, silent pause. "He just wants something that he can't have."

Kurt snorted at the implication. "Me? Yeah, right."

Blaine hummed a little to himself and drew his arm away, moving back on the mattress so that he could lean up against the wall. His eyes slipped shut for a second, then fluttered open, the look behind them a bit fond as he turned to gaze at Kurt.

"So how was graduation?"

Kurt brightened immediately, giving Blaine his earlier promised recap. Blaine laughed loudly as Kurt told him about the hideous dress Rachel had worn, along with the nearly six-inch platform heels she'd fallen flat on her face in.

Later, Kurt smiled through a story Blaine was telling him about one of the other inmates he'd made friends with, while secretly admiring both his and Blaine's ability to bounce back so quickly, after everything.

He was glad that they were here, in this moment, and yeah, maybe the place and the circumstances weren't completely ideal. And maybe the way they'd gotten here wasn't exactly ideal either. Kurt was just glad that they were here.

Kurt could hardly recall a moment when Blaine hadn't been such a huge facet in his life; Couldn't recall a moment when they hadn't been like this, with each other. And, maybe right now, or maybe just in general, the two of them weren't very compatible, romantically. But Kurt knew, that if they could have this, this happiness, this closeness, right now, that they'd be all right in the long run.

The thought made him warm; knowing that he and Blaine would always be this way just made him happy.

Blaine stopped mid-sentence, giving Kurt a curious look when he caught sight of the dopey tint to his grin. He laughed a little, "What're you thinking about?"

Kurt's smile widened, because Blaine just knew him so well. "Nothing. I'm just… glad that we're friends."

Blaine bit his lip, the look on his face a little more serious than it should've been given the situation, but he reached out and touched Kurt's hand, squeezing gently.

"Me too."

(Song: To Build a Home – Cinematic Orchestra)