A/N: endless apologies for the lateness of this. it's the longest chapter so far, though, so maybe that helps? I swear to you I'm not giving up on it, as you can hopefully see by the fact that chapters are still coming out, albeit slowly. school has been kicking my butt, and soccer is everywhere, but summer starts in just over a week for me and i'll finish this story up then. i'm thinking right around 15 or 16 chapters should just about do it :) thanks so much for sticking with me if you're still reading this story, and thanks for being lovely, sweet, kind readers in general! mwah kisses on all of your faces

disclaimer: characters are not mine (sad face)

...

An hour later and things are falling; falling apart, falling together, falling to pieces – what difference does it make anymore? He's trying to keep his cool, he really is, but he's falling so hard he can't tell whether up is down or left is right anymore. He just tries to move forward as best he can, keeping up with the Warblers (or at least moving within their ranks). The eerie precision with which they move is unsettling to Blaine. They're are nearly emotionless, as well trained as any army, the sky is brighter than it has the right to be, and all around him there is falling.

He can't stop shaking his leg. Tremors run through his body, but his leg is the most jittery, bouncing up and down, throwing off his timing – now there exists a separate tap with every thud of a unified footfall, a separate cough with every gushing exhale, a separate fluttering with every stead pound of a hundred hearts working as one. He's the off-beat.

"Quit it," mutters Jeff, "You'll give us away," but it's barely a breath, and Blaine pretends not to hear easily enough. His leg shakes on.

They keep walking, because apparently this attack is as direct as possible and cars are unnecessary, or something like that; Blaine stopped paying attention two seconds into Sebastian's lecture, instead torturing himself with all of the ways tonight could go wrong. Just five seconds difference could mean the blood of a friend on his hands, a kill to tally up, red dripping off of his ledger in streams, because how can you make up for something you'll never forgive yourself for?

Now, as they're marching, all he can see with every step is a face of someone he loves, and it looks something like this: Kurt Rachel Kurt Finn Kurt Puck Sam Kurt Santana Kurt Brittany Mercedes Mike Tina Kurt Artie Quinn Kurt Kurt Kurt and so on and so forth, until there's an ache spreading through his chest that wasn't there before. He wants to meet Jeff's eye, but to do so could be catastrophic, and he's been told not to compromise missions so often in the past weeks that he physically can't bring himself to turn his head. Maybe that's for the better, in the end, because within seconds the Warblers stop moving. Halted like that, Blaine hesitates. He knows this part of the plan, he does, he just doesn't want to have to go through with it.

Go on, Blaine. Sebastian's voice cuts into his thoughts, startling him, and he doesn't think he'll ever get used to this kind of invasion of privacy. He takes a shaking step forward, and then another, until he's walking quickly away from backup and toward the HQ (and the people inside, the people he wants to save) that won't make this any easier for him.

He's nearly on top of the building when he's spotted by a camera – Tina's new invention, no doubt – and quickly ducks out of the way and runs around to the other side of the wall, feet flying underneath him, wind biting his skin, hair unmoving from where he's gelled it out of the way. All is as it should be, and for one blissful moment he forgets entirely that he's simply playing hero. Which is, of course, when Jeff breaks rank, and things begin to fall in earnest.

…

Alarms blare, and it's so unexpected he nearly jumps right out of his skin. As it is, he's thrumming with adrenaline, and all of the fire running through his veins just pushes him to move faster. He's never moved at this kind of reckless, breakneck speed before, at least not that he can remember, and it's thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

He hears a shout behind him, but he can't be bothered to turn around. He's nearly to his place when he's stopped by an angry Puckerman, arms crossed and feet shoulder-width apart, little sparks and embers shooting from his fingertips. Blaine skids to a stop and takes a step back.

"Move or I'll have to kill you," says Blaine evenly, standing his ground. Soon enough, the chaos will subside enough for Sebastian to take notice of his actions. He just hopes Jeff bought him enough time to deal with the New Directions first.

"What if I kill you first?" There's a belligerent tone present in Puck's voice, though he also sounds slightly amused.

Blaine heaves a sigh, checks over his shoulder, and begins to talk in a low, rushed tone. "Listen, I'm on your side, okay? I got caught, and they forced me to help them, but I'm trying to fight for you as much as I can without getting all of us killed. So let me through before he forces me to kill you, or I swear you won't see tomorrow." Puck cocks an eyebrow at that. "I have reinforcements," reminds Blaine, and after one more moment of hesitation (one they can't really afford, but we'll get to that later), Puck shouts "DON'T SHOOT THE HOBBIT!" through the door and up the stairs and steps to the side.

Blaine doesn't even have time to be bewildered, instead dashing inside, ignoring the rumblings of the earth beneath his feet. They're a good thing, he tells himself, Jeff is doing his job, it's okay, don't worry, things will be fine.

He speeds up his pace, blindly flying up the stairs –

- only to run smack-dab into one of the many people he needed to find.

"Kurt," he breathes out, so relieved he wants to sink to the floor. The other boy seems unharmed, standing warily but not putting up much of a fight.

Kurt opens his mouth, then closes it again, and the conflict in his eyes is overwhelming. "Are you going to hurt them?" he finally asks, tight-lipped, and Blaine's reply of no no of course not I couldn't I won't I swear comes out garbled and all the more rushed for its sincerity.

He wants to ask do you trust me? To tack it onto the end like he would any other day. But the answer would be no, and justifiably so, and Blaine can't bear to set himself up for that kind of pain right now. Besides, it's not like he has time. "I swear, I'm trying to help here, please just trust me," he implores once more before throwing himself past Kurt and moving on. No icicles strike his back, and a dagger isn't currently skewering him, so that's a victory.

He needs to find and gain at least a tiny bit of trust from all four of them – the ones with the bracelets (Kurt, Finn, Santana, Rachel) – before Jeff can't keep the Warblers occupied any longer. Blaine knows that it's entirely possible they'll both be dead by the end of the night, truly, but if he frees his friends and defeats Sebastian then maybe it'll all have been worth it after all.

The main floor of headquarters looks largely the same as when he was here last, from what he can gather from the images flashing by either side of him. Still an open hall with a game room at the end, white walls, rooms branching off and running deeper through a system more complicated than you'd think if you hadn't lived here for months before being kidnapped (or something like that, anyways). It's too light, too empty, too cool and fresh and safe, and he realizes one second too late that he's being set up. Once he figures that out and gets into gear to run, he feels something cool against his neck. "Don't move," snarls Santana from where she'd popped up right in front of him, and damn her ability to teleport because he'd been stupid enough to forget entirely. Mike, of course, is holding the knife (and no, he didn't count on invisibility being an obstacle because Mike had been his best friend, and maybe it was a little naïve but he thought he could be forgiven more quickly than this, at any rate).

"Please," he gasps, out of breath from running harder than he really ever has before, "we don't have time. If you kill me, this will all have been worth nothing. We don't have time, please, I need to get out of here and find Tina, now."

Which is probably not the right thing to say when Tina's boyfriend still views you as a mortal threat, but he's kind of short on time here.

"Why?" asks Mike, still gentle but words sharper than Blaine is used to.

"Because I'm trying to help you, and if you don't let me go this instant you'll all be dead by morning. And I will be, too."

Santana's in the process of saying no way, no, hell no, when Mike tells Blaine (hushed into his ear, of course) to make it quick and not hurt Tina or he'll have to pay, and releases him. Blaine is gone, out of the room before Santana can even protest the decision.

Tina must be in the command room, she must be. He skids up another flight of stairs (the one at the opposite end of the hall from the first), makes a left and a right, and finds himself right in front of the door he needs. It's white, blank, dispassionate and daunting. It takes a steady, grounding breath before he's ready to step forward, right up to it.

He pushes the door open, and that's really when it all goes to hell.

...

Review?

(PS: what do you think Jeff is doing to distract the Warblers for so long? Why does Blaine need Tina? Will he ever gain back the trust of ND? i'd love to hear your guesses! you'll find out these answers next chapter, by the way :))

(PPS: if you want to talk to me about this story or anything, really, you can PM me or find me on tumblr at abrokenkindofperfect. i love meeting new people! 3)