Welcome to the Glee Angst Meme again! You know how these things work. You can come here and prompt your most angsty prompts, and write stories filling those angsty prompts to let our characters suffer
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Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 2/?
anonymous
March 23 2012, 02:11:09 UTC
Kurt loved to fly. Some Gargoyles preferred to stay just above tree level but Kurt, he loved soaring as high as he could then diving toward the ground until he was almost out of control. His parents hated when he did it so he waited until he was flying with Finn or with friends. His life, especially lately, was planned out to the second and flying was the only way to felt on control of something, even if it was small.
Kurt had never been on a date; Blaine would be his first and only boyfriend, then his husband. It wasn’t an appealing idea. Some Gargoyles dreamed of the day they were allowed to meet the one their parents chose for them but his parents had to make his match out of a necessity for their clan. Their numbers had taken a hit due to a few younger Gargoyles from their clan either choosing to leave, or in one case being banished from the clan. That had been a hard time for them all, and the clan’s first and only banishment. Santana Lopez had been found guilty of purposely injuring a fellow clan mate and her punishment, decided by Kurt’s parents, was banishment. Kurt didn’t know if she’d joined another clan or had become rogue but he didn’t care to know. Santana had hurt Finn, Sam, and a young Gargoyle named Rory who’d taken to following them around with a bad case of hero worship, and Kurt wasn’t forgiving her. Not that she was apologetic about what she’d done.
“Kurt, you ready to head back in yet?” Finn called from somewhere behind him. Kurt realized the sun would be up in just under an hour. He’d completely lost track of time while flying and that was dangerous.
“Yeah,” Kurt replied. “I can see a lake down there. Let’s stop and get something to drink before we head back.”
“Sounds good,” Sam agreed and led the way, landing softly on the grass beside the lake. Kurt landed next with Finn following a second later.
“Kurt?” Finn asked and Kurt realized he’d been staring at the lake, not moving and not answering his brother’s calls. “What’s wrong?”
Kurt shrugged. Something felt off but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He’d been to the lake before and it was safe, it was within their clan border, but something was unfamiliar.
“Is there someone here?” he looked at Sam. Sam was one of the clan’s best scouts and trackers and if anyone could tell if someone had been at the lake recently, it would be him.
“I’ll look around,” Sam quickly disappeared into the woods while Finn stepped closer to Kurt. Kurt let his younger brother think he was protecting him, but the truth was if there was any danger, Kurt was the older one and he’d protect Finn.
“Think we should leave?” Finn looked around but he couldn’t see anything that would make Kurt nervous.
“Not yet,” Kurt shook his head. He needed to know if Sam found anything or if his impending wedding was making him crazy.
Sam yelled for them and they took off running toward his voice. They found him kneeling over a pile of feathers but as they drew closer, they realized it was wings. Sam had found a male Gargoyle, unconscious and badly beaten. Kurt didn’t recognize him from any of the nearby clans so either he’d travelled a long way or he was rogue, and rogues could be dangerous.
“Should we take him back with us?” Sam looked at the brothers for an answer. It would be Kurt’s decision as the oldest and highest ranking Gargoyle in their midst.
“He’s hurt,” Finn pointed out. Kurt didn’t have to ask to know what Finn’s opinion would be. His brother would bring home a deadly lion if the thing was injured.
“Let’s get him to Mom and Dad,” Kurt cast a look at the brightening sky. “And let’s do it quickly. The sun’s coming up.”
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 3a/?
anonymous
April 12 2012, 07:04:42 UTC
It was slow going on the flight back, with the extra weight of the unconscious Gargoyle dragging them down. They had to stop four times to switch off when their wings got tired but they eventually made it back to their clan just as the sun started coming up over the trees. They dropped gently in front of the Hummel house and set the stranger on his side, on the ground.
“Mom, Dad!” Finn yelled even as he moved toward the house. Their mom popped her head out before he reached her.
“What’s wrong Finny?”
“We need your help,” he pointed back to where Sam stood and Kurt kneeled beside the unconscious stranger. “We found him by the lake.”
“Don’t get too close boys,” Carole hurried toward them, gliding to her knees, wings folding into her back so she had room to move. “He’s a rogue,” she confirmed Kurt’s earlier suspicions. “Looks like he used to be in Schuester’s clan. There’s still a bit of his clan mark left from when they tried to remove it. Whatever reason they had for banning him from their clan, it must have been bad for them to cause this much damage.”
Kurt nodded. Their clan didn’t beat its members for their wrongdoings but he knew that some did, especially if a member was banned. There had been reports of Gargoyles dying after being beaten and left by their clan but to Kurt’s knowledge, there had been no deaths in their area. The stranger they’d found could have been the first if the hadn’t stopped at the lake.
Every Gargoyle, at birth, was given the insignia of their clan, placed on their back just above their left wing. If, for some reason, they were ever banished from their clan, they were forced to undergo a painful process to remove the mark. His parents had told him and Finn that it felt like someone was trying to burn their wings one by one and each burnt feather was more painful. The pain lasted for hours, long after the clan had carried them off their property. It was enough for him and Finn to behave.
“Is he going to die?” Finn asked in a tone Kurt hadn’t heard since Rory had been hurt by a hunter when he’d lost control of his cloaking abilities and his wings had been exposed. Rory had been bed-ridden for a month while he healed and every day for a week Finn asked if his young friend was going to live in the same tone he was using now.
“He’ll be fine,” Carole assured them. “It’s mostly just bruises and it feels like a few broken ribs. I’ll try to get him to absorb some tea and we’ll find a place for him to rest.”
“Thanks Mom,” Kurt kissed her cheek. Some, probably most, leaders would have punished him, Finn, and Sam for bringing a rogue Gargoyles, even though he was injured, into their village but his parents had always been more open-minded. One of their clan was a healer and brewed healing teas and soothing lotions, something that other clans didn’t believe in but Kurt had seen them work. He trusted Dr Jones, Mercedes’ Mom, to know what was best for him when he was hurt.
Kurt stood back and let his mom fuss over the rogue until she was satisfied that she’s assessed his injuries to the best of her knowledge. Other than Dr Jones, Carole Hudson was the best in the clan when it came to diagnosis injuries.
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 3b/?
anonymous
April 12 2012, 07:05:23 UTC
“Where do you want us to go?” Finn asked as he carefully lifted the rogue’s upper body and Sam took the lower body. They followed Kurt, who followed his mom, to one of the empty homes in the village and the unconscious Gargoyle was placed on the bed. “Someone should stay with him.”
“Kurt, would you mind?” his mom turned to look at him. Kurt just nodded. Even if she hadn’t asked, he probably would have stayed. There was something about the rogue that made him want to stay nearby.
Carole ushered the other two out, insisting that the injured rogue needed his rest and they could visit once he woke. Kurt sank into a chair near the foot of the bed, listening to the sounds of the young Gargoyles playing outside in the village square. It was peaceful. The only time he was interrupted was when Carole returned with some healing tea to coat the rogue’s wings. Since their power came from their wings, swallowing any kind of healing aid wouldn’t work. It had to be absorbed by the feathers of their wings to have any effect.
Once she left, he was alone again. He spent what seemed like hours memorizing every detail of the rogue’s body down to the different swirls in the feathers of his dark wings. His eyes racked back to the rogue’s face and he gasped. The stranger was awake.
Kurt knew he should move, go get his mom and tell her that her patient had regained consciousness, but he couldn’t move. The rogue’s eyes were locked on his and Kurt felt frozen to his chair. He couldn’t move but he wasn’t afraid. Somehow he knew this rogue didn’t want to hurt him, that he could be trusted. Kurt let himself relax into the feeling and the more he did, the more he was able to free himself from his invisible chains.
“Hi,” he said to the rogue now that he could move. “My name’s Kurt. Me and some friends found you and brought you to our village because you were hurt.”
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 4/?
anonymous
April 20 2012, 04:15:17 UTC
Kurt waited outside the house as Carole examined Puck more thoroughly now that he was conscious. All Kurt knew about Puck was his name and that he was rogue, but there was still something about him that made it hard for Kurt to leave him, even though he knew Carole was more than capable of taking care of him. The only person he’d ever felt instantly protective of was Finn, and Finn was his little brother. It felt strange, but it felt right.
“He’s awake?” Finn asked as he sat on the front steps next to Kurt.
“Yeah,” Kurt replied, glancing behind him at the closed door. He really needed to be inside. “Mom’s with him. His name’s Puck.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“A little bit before Mom came in,” Kurt told him. He hadn’t gotten any more information from the rogue, mostly he’d been the one talking and filling Puck in on how they’d found him and brought him back to their village. “He didn’t really say much. Just his name.”
Finn shrugged, making his wings ruffle. Kurt still wasn’t used to seeing Finn’s wings so prominent on his back. Most Gargoyles went through a phase where they despised their wings, but because of bullying from Gargoyles in another tribe, Finn had been ashamed of his beautiful wings. Kurt had found him one day, crying and pulling at his feathers but thankfully he’d stopped his brother before Finn had worked up the courage to actually pull any out. When their dad had been informed, he’d been so angry that he’d been ready to declare an attack on the other tribe but their mom had managed to calm him down. Instead they’d had a quiet meeting with the head of that clan and the bullying Gargoyles had been punished without anyone else getting hurt. It had taken a while after that, though, for Finn to feel comfortable displaying his wings.
“He’s probably scared,” Finn said. “I would be.”
“So would I,” Kurt agreed.
“Kurt, can I get your help for a second?” Carole’s voice floated out from the open window.
Kurt leaped to his feet and was through the door before Finn could get to his own feet. “What do you need?” he came to a stop in the bedroom, openly staring at Puck’s almost naked body.
The rogue was standing in the middle of the bedroom, clad in only a pair of boxer shorts. Carole must have taken off Puck’s shirt to get a better look at all his injuries, and there were a lot of them. Kurt was sure he could see bruises in the shape of shoes all along Puck’s side. Every inch of him looked covered in a painful mark.
“Kurt,” Carole’s voice pulled him away from eyeing Puck’s injuries. “Finn,” she added when Finn walked into the room. “Finn, can you get Dr Jones then find some clothes for Puck?”
“Sure, Mom,” Finn agreed.
“What should I do?” Kurt asked.
“I need you to hold Puck’s wings so I can put cream on some of the cuts,” Carole replied. “Is that alright?” she asked Puck.
Puck nodded. Normally he could just retract his wings enough to give her access to his back but with his injuries, it was too painful.
Kurt slowly walked across the room so he was standing behind Puck and he reached out to gently lift one of Puck’s wings. He drew his hand back immediately, yelping in pain at the same time as Puck collapsed to his knees. Kurt didn’t know what was happening but his vision were bright until he had to shut his eyes to shield himself.
“Oh boys,” Carole gasped, reaching out to help Puck back to his feet.
“Mom, what was that?”
Carole helped Puck back to his bed before she answered. “I’ve never seen that happen before, but I’ve heard of it.”
“Mom, you’re kind of scaring me,” Kurt confessed.
“You’re a perfect match.”
“But that hasn’t happened in centuries,” Kurt protested. “And I’m promised to Blaine. We’re supposed to meet tomorrow.”
“I’m sure,” his mom said with tears in her eyes. “You belong together. The Andersons will have to make other plans for Blaine.”
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 5a/?
anonymous
April 22 2012, 07:07:33 UTC
Blaine Anderson, as the youngest son of the heads of the Dalton clan, was cocky and brash. His position afforded him protection from consequences his fellow clan mate faced on a daily basis and he used it to his advantage. His parents didn’t pay much attention to him other than when they had to smooth over a dispute and his older brother, Cooper, had been gone for years after their parents arranged a marriage with the middle daughter of a clan in Los Angeles and when Cooper was picking which Gargoyles he wanted for his new clan, he didn’t choose Blaine.
Cooper had been under no obligation to choose Blaine, in fact some clans forbid the choosing of a sibling when forming a new clan, but Blaine had been under the assumption his brother wanted him. Their relationship hadn’t been the best, Cooper would pick on him all the time, but they were still brothers and he could have pulled his own weight in Cooper’s new clan. But his brother had married and left without ever looking back and Blaine hadn’t heard from him since the wedding.
He couldn’t lie and say Cooper’s choice didn’t feel like a betrayal. The weeks leading up to the wedding, Copper had been the nicest Blaine could remember and his hopes of going to Los Angeles as a member of his brother’s new clan were high. They lasted until the day of the wedding, when Cooper announced his new clan members and Blaine wasn’t among them. He had spent so much time bragging to his friends that his brother was going to choose him and when Cooper hadn’t, it left him open to their ridicule.
Blaine spent a lot of time after his brother’s wedding lashing out at everyone in the clan. His parents had to take their attentions from serious matters to deal with the problems he’d created and there were a lot of members of their clan who resented him. Blaine suspected part of the decision to arrange a marriage for him was to get him away from those clan members but he was going to head his own clan so he couldn’t complain.
“Blaine,” Rachel Berry gracefully dropped from the sky, landing on the ground in front of his house. He was lounging on his porch, soaking up the summer sun, and he wasn’t in the mood to be disturbed.
“Not now Rachel,” she was his closest friend in the clan, and really the only one who understood him. She would definitely be his first choice for his new clan and he’d make sure she was given a high rank.
“You have a message from the Hummels,” she waved a letter in the air. She’d obviously ignored the no flying during the day rule to go check their mailbox but he’d never report her. “Open it. I wonder if it’s a love letter.”
Blaine almost rolled his eyes. Rachel was a huge romantic and she dreamed of falling in love the human way, meeting a guy and dating and being worshipped. It wasn’t something that typically happened to people like them, children of high ranking Gargoyles in a clan, but Blaine didn’t have it in him to kill her dream. She was, after all, the one person who’d never stopped talking to him through all his problem days.
“Well,” Rachel bounced on her heels and her wings fluttered behind her in excitement. “What does it say?”
“Impatient,” he teased. He’d been in a much better mood since his parents had announced his wedding and he’d even managed to repair some of his broken relationships with clan members. “It says,” his eyes drifted over the words, “the wedding’s off. They claim Kurt’s met his True Match.”
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 5b/?
anonymous
April 22 2012, 07:08:12 UTC
“Obviously it’s a lie,” Rachel said at once. “That hasn’t happened in centuries and if it did happen, it certainly wouldn’t be to such a low class clan in the Lima Forest. It would be to someone deserving, like you or I.”
It was another person in Blaine’s life who decided not to choose him. Kurt choose someone else, just like Cooper had at his wedding.
“They better be able to prove this claim,” Blaine spat, crumpling the letter and tossing it to the ground. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” he added to Rachel. She was a horrible gossip. “I need to inform my parents of this development. They’ll need to decide what payment they want from the Hummels when I expose them for being liars.”
“Let me know how I can help,” Rachel said before taking to the air again.
Blaine appreciated the offer but this betrayal was something he needed to take care of himself.
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 6a/?
anonymous
May 7 2012, 18:12:51 UTC
The buzz of excitement in the air the next day was expected. It was the day Kurt was supposed to meet Blaine and there had been a ceremony planned to introduce them as an official pair. There hadn’t been a ceremony for any reason in their clan for years, Kurt had only been ten when the last one had happened to celebrate the birth of twins, Sebastian and Chandler. Twins were rare among Gargoyles, not as rare as a True Match, but rare enough for other clans to send presents of acknowledgement and for some of the closer clans to attend the ceremony.
Kurt’s ceremony would have been attended by only members of his clan and the Dalton clan. His parents wanted to keep their introduction simple and private, less chance of something going wrong. Kurt wasn’t sure if there were a lot of rogues in the area, other than Puck, but there was a growing number of Gargoyles who wanted to destroy the clans under protest of being ruled, and if the word got out that they had been about to create a new clan, there could have been an attack.
Instead the Dalton clan wasn’t coming and the ceremony was being changed to celebrate him and Puck being a True Match.
Kurt hadn’t been allowed to see Puck since the rogue had fallen asleep yesterday, almost as soon as his mom had announced that they were a True Match. According to his mom, since Puck was such a low-ranked Gargoyle compared to Kurt, the Match drained most of his energy, and his mom had insisted he remain in bed to recover. Kurt had felt a little dizzy afterwards but because he was the son of the heads of the clan, the energy drain barely affected him. What did affect him was the feeling of emptiness from being separated from his Match. His mom promised the feeling would go away after their introduction, as would Puck’s energy drain, but for now, all Kurt wanted to do was curl up in his bed and cry.
“Dude, Dad wants to know if you’re ready,” Finn poked his head into his room.
“I am,” Kurt told him, then he got a good look at his brother. “But you’re not. Get over here so I can fix your tie.”
“I hate it,” Finn pouted. “It keeps choking me,”
Kurt laughed as he undid the knot. “Not if you tie it right. And it’ll make Mom so happy.”
“Yeah,” Finn sighed. Kurt knew his brother hated wearing anything beyond the clan’s normal clothes of a loose shirt and either jeans or shorts, with two slits in the shirt’s back for their wings. Some of the female Gargoyles wore dresses or skirts, but they were limited to clothes they could make themselves or clothes they could trade for when it was their turn to go to the village.
“Was there any mail today?” he asked. He and his parents had sent out the notice about the Match to the Dalton clan and he wanted to know how they took the news.
“Nope,” Finn shook his head, earning himself a light slap on the arm for messing up Kurt’s efforts fixing his tie. ‘Sorry.”
“There,” Kurt announced as he finished with his brother’s tie. “Now you’re ready.”
“Thanks Kurt,” Finn flashed him a smile.
Kurt smiled as he followed his brother out of the house. He’d peeked out at his clan setting up for his introduction ceremony and he’d overheard the members’ conversations floating to him through his open window. Everyone was excited to see Puck and everyone was excited that a True Match happened to their clan. It could be another hundred or more years before another True Match happened.
“Hey Dad,” Finn grinned as their dad walked up to them.
“Finn, I need to talk to Kurt,” their dad said and Finn immediately left them alone, finding Sam in the crowd. “Son, how are you feeling about all this?”
“A little overwhelmed,” Kurt admitted. He’d gone from having an arranged marriage with someone he’d hoped to grow to love to loving Puck the second they touched.
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 6b/?
anonymous
May 7 2012, 18:13:36 UTC
Around them, the clan members were beginning to take their seats. His mom was still with Puck, as was Mercedes, helping him get ready and hopefully explaining what was happening to him. They had no idea how much other clans told their members and if Puck didn’t know about a True Match, he could resist. It would be painful for them both, they had to be with their Match to feel fulfilled, but after being cast out from his clan maybe Puck could stand the pain.
“Your mother says Puck’s accepting of your Match,” his dad always could read his thoughts too easily. “She’s explained everything to him but his previous clan had already told him about a True Match.”
“But…” Kurt also knew his father well enough to know there was something else.
“Some clans could challenge the Match since he’s a rogue,” his dad confessed. “We’ve sent word to a few clans that we trust and they’re sending someone to authenticate the Match. The more clans we have on our side, the less chance someone will cause problems.”
“I’m sorry.”
His dad pulled him in for a tight hug. “This isn’t your fault Son. You didn’t ask for this to happen, it was decided a long time ago by something beyond our control that if you and Puck ever met, you’d be connected. I’m so proud of the way you’re handling everything.”
“Thanks Dad,” Kurt smiled against his father’s chest. “I love you.”
Fill: The War on a Man's Soul 7/?
anonymous
May 31 2012, 00:48:14 UTC
Puck felt like he was spinning out of control. A week ago he was on trial by members of his clan, accused of exposing his wings to humans and endangering the entire clan. He was innocent, framed due to his low rank in the clan and the high rank of the one who was actually guilty. He was found guilty, there was little chance he wouldn’t be, and a group of strong Gargoyles had flown him out of their clan property. He was conscious while they removed his clan mark, the most painful thing he’d ever experienced, then the beating had started. He lost consciousness long before they left him alone.
The next thing he knew, he was waking up on a soft bed and he felt safe. He felt like he belonged again, something he never should have felt after the moment his clan cast him out. His connection to other Gargoyles should have been severed but when he woke up, he felt a stronger connection to the Gargoyle world than he had when he was a member of his old clan.
There had been another Gargoyle in the room with him, one who look around his age and from the way he carried himself, Puck could tell he held a high rank in his clan. Puck guessed he was the son of the heads of his clan.
The boy introduced himself as Kurt and Puck told the boy his name. Or his nickname. The only people who called him Noah were his mom and sister, who he no longer had any contact with since he was thrown out of their clan. His mother never really paid much attention to him but he worried what his little sister would do without him. She had never made many friends in their clan, and the those who did try to befriend her did so because of his troublemaker reputation and weren’t the kinds of people Puck wanted his baby sister hanging around.
The boy, Kurt, had ran off and returned with an older woman who he introduced as his mother, Carole. Puck recognized her from one of the books in his Gargoyles history class as one of the heads of The Clan of the Lima Forest. That would make her married to Burt Hummel if Puck remembered his clans correctly. He always had a hard time keeping all the names and faces straight.
Carole had taken care of his injuries after sending Kurt out of the room. Puck only knew the other boy’s name but the second Kurt left, he wanted him back. When Carole needed help to clean the injuries on his back, she asked him if it would be alright if she got Kurt to come help and he’d quickly agreed. He needed to see Kurt again.
Kurt came back, followed by a tall boy who Carole immediately sent back out for a doctor and clothes. She’d called the other boy Finn, and that meant he was Kurt’s younger brother. If Puck hadn’t remembered that from his class, he never would have guessed; they looked nothing alike. Carole asked Kurt to hold his wings and it took a lot of effort from Puck not to flinch as Kurt stepped closer to him. The last time someone touched his wings, it was to hold them out of the way as someone else unmarked him.
He didn’t realize he was holding his breath as Kurt gently lifted his wing. It was immediate. He felt like someone reached inside him and sucked out all his energy. He didn’t even have the strength to stay on his feet and his legs folded under him. He heard Kurt cry out in pain but he didn’t have the energy to turn his head to see what was wrong. He had to let Carole help him back to the bed and he heard her talking to Kurt but there was a buzzing noise in his head. He couldn’t hear what she was saying but he heard the words ‘True Match’.
It had to be a mistake. That was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.
Kurt had never been on a date; Blaine would be his first and only boyfriend, then his husband. It wasn’t an appealing idea. Some Gargoyles dreamed of the day they were allowed to meet the one their parents chose for them but his parents had to make his match out of a necessity for their clan. Their numbers had taken a hit due to a few younger Gargoyles from their clan either choosing to leave, or in one case being banished from the clan. That had been a hard time for them all, and the clan’s first and only banishment. Santana Lopez had been found guilty of purposely injuring a fellow clan mate and her punishment, decided by Kurt’s parents, was banishment. Kurt didn’t know if she’d joined another clan or had become rogue but he didn’t care to know. Santana had hurt Finn, Sam, and a young Gargoyle named Rory who’d taken to following them around with a bad case of hero worship, and Kurt wasn’t forgiving her. Not that she was apologetic about what she’d done.
“Kurt, you ready to head back in yet?” Finn called from somewhere behind him. Kurt realized the sun would be up in just under an hour. He’d completely lost track of time while flying and that was dangerous.
“Yeah,” Kurt replied. “I can see a lake down there. Let’s stop and get something to drink before we head back.”
“Sounds good,” Sam agreed and led the way, landing softly on the grass beside the lake. Kurt landed next with Finn following a second later.
“Kurt?” Finn asked and Kurt realized he’d been staring at the lake, not moving and not answering his brother’s calls. “What’s wrong?”
Kurt shrugged. Something felt off but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He’d been to the lake before and it was safe, it was within their clan border, but something was unfamiliar.
“Is there someone here?” he looked at Sam. Sam was one of the clan’s best scouts and trackers and if anyone could tell if someone had been at the lake recently, it would be him.
“I’ll look around,” Sam quickly disappeared into the woods while Finn stepped closer to Kurt. Kurt let his younger brother think he was protecting him, but the truth was if there was any danger, Kurt was the older one and he’d protect Finn.
“Think we should leave?” Finn looked around but he couldn’t see anything that would make Kurt nervous.
“Not yet,” Kurt shook his head. He needed to know if Sam found anything or if his impending wedding was making him crazy.
Sam yelled for them and they took off running toward his voice. They found him kneeling over a pile of feathers but as they drew closer, they realized it was wings. Sam had found a male Gargoyle, unconscious and badly beaten. Kurt didn’t recognize him from any of the nearby clans so either he’d travelled a long way or he was rogue, and rogues could be dangerous.
“Should we take him back with us?” Sam looked at the brothers for an answer. It would be Kurt’s decision as the oldest and highest ranking Gargoyle in their midst.
“He’s hurt,” Finn pointed out. Kurt didn’t have to ask to know what Finn’s opinion would be. His brother would bring home a deadly lion if the thing was injured.
“Let’s get him to Mom and Dad,” Kurt cast a look at the brightening sky. “And let’s do it quickly. The sun’s coming up.”
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“Mom, Dad!” Finn yelled even as he moved toward the house. Their mom popped her head out before he reached her.
“What’s wrong Finny?”
“We need your help,” he pointed back to where Sam stood and Kurt kneeled beside the unconscious stranger. “We found him by the lake.”
“Don’t get too close boys,” Carole hurried toward them, gliding to her knees, wings folding into her back so she had room to move. “He’s a rogue,” she confirmed Kurt’s earlier suspicions. “Looks like he used to be in Schuester’s clan. There’s still a bit of his clan mark left from when they tried to remove it. Whatever reason they had for banning him from their clan, it must have been bad for them to cause this much damage.”
Kurt nodded. Their clan didn’t beat its members for their wrongdoings but he knew that some did, especially if a member was banned. There had been reports of Gargoyles dying after being beaten and left by their clan but to Kurt’s knowledge, there had been no deaths in their area. The stranger they’d found could have been the first if the hadn’t stopped at the lake.
Every Gargoyle, at birth, was given the insignia of their clan, placed on their back just above their left wing. If, for some reason, they were ever banished from their clan, they were forced to undergo a painful process to remove the mark. His parents had told him and Finn that it felt like someone was trying to burn their wings one by one and each burnt feather was more painful. The pain lasted for hours, long after the clan had carried them off their property. It was enough for him and Finn to behave.
“Is he going to die?” Finn asked in a tone Kurt hadn’t heard since Rory had been hurt by a hunter when he’d lost control of his cloaking abilities and his wings had been exposed. Rory had been bed-ridden for a month while he healed and every day for a week Finn asked if his young friend was going to live in the same tone he was using now.
“He’ll be fine,” Carole assured them. “It’s mostly just bruises and it feels like a few broken ribs. I’ll try to get him to absorb some tea and we’ll find a place for him to rest.”
“Thanks Mom,” Kurt kissed her cheek. Some, probably most, leaders would have punished him, Finn, and Sam for bringing a rogue Gargoyles, even though he was injured, into their village but his parents had always been more open-minded. One of their clan was a healer and brewed healing teas and soothing lotions, something that other clans didn’t believe in but Kurt had seen them work. He trusted Dr Jones, Mercedes’ Mom, to know what was best for him when he was hurt.
Kurt stood back and let his mom fuss over the rogue until she was satisfied that she’s assessed his injuries to the best of her knowledge. Other than Dr Jones, Carole Hudson was the best in the clan when it came to diagnosis injuries.
“Alright boys, let’s move him to a bed.”
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“Kurt, would you mind?” his mom turned to look at him. Kurt just nodded. Even if she hadn’t asked, he probably would have stayed. There was something about the rogue that made him want to stay nearby.
Carole ushered the other two out, insisting that the injured rogue needed his rest and they could visit once he woke. Kurt sank into a chair near the foot of the bed, listening to the sounds of the young Gargoyles playing outside in the village square. It was peaceful. The only time he was interrupted was when Carole returned with some healing tea to coat the rogue’s wings. Since their power came from their wings, swallowing any kind of healing aid wouldn’t work. It had to be absorbed by the feathers of their wings to have any effect.
Once she left, he was alone again. He spent what seemed like hours memorizing every detail of the rogue’s body down to the different swirls in the feathers of his dark wings. His eyes racked back to the rogue’s face and he gasped. The stranger was awake.
Kurt knew he should move, go get his mom and tell her that her patient had regained consciousness, but he couldn’t move. The rogue’s eyes were locked on his and Kurt felt frozen to his chair. He couldn’t move but he wasn’t afraid. Somehow he knew this rogue didn’t want to hurt him, that he could be trusted. Kurt let himself relax into the feeling and the more he did, the more he was able to free himself from his invisible chains.
“Hi,” he said to the rogue now that he could move. “My name’s Kurt. Me and some friends found you and brought you to our village because you were hurt.”
“I’m Puck.”
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“He’s awake?” Finn asked as he sat on the front steps next to Kurt.
“Yeah,” Kurt replied, glancing behind him at the closed door. He really needed to be inside. “Mom’s with him. His name’s Puck.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“A little bit before Mom came in,” Kurt told him. He hadn’t gotten any more information from the rogue, mostly he’d been the one talking and filling Puck in on how they’d found him and brought him back to their village. “He didn’t really say much. Just his name.”
Finn shrugged, making his wings ruffle. Kurt still wasn’t used to seeing Finn’s wings so prominent on his back. Most Gargoyles went through a phase where they despised their wings, but because of bullying from Gargoyles in another tribe, Finn had been ashamed of his beautiful wings. Kurt had found him one day, crying and pulling at his feathers but thankfully he’d stopped his brother before Finn had worked up the courage to actually pull any out. When their dad had been informed, he’d been so angry that he’d been ready to declare an attack on the other tribe but their mom had managed to calm him down. Instead they’d had a quiet meeting with the head of that clan and the bullying Gargoyles had been punished without anyone else getting hurt. It had taken a while after that, though, for Finn to feel comfortable displaying his wings.
“He’s probably scared,” Finn said. “I would be.”
“So would I,” Kurt agreed.
“Kurt, can I get your help for a second?” Carole’s voice floated out from the open window.
Kurt leaped to his feet and was through the door before Finn could get to his own feet. “What do you need?” he came to a stop in the bedroom, openly staring at Puck’s almost naked body.
The rogue was standing in the middle of the bedroom, clad in only a pair of boxer shorts. Carole must have taken off Puck’s shirt to get a better look at all his injuries, and there were a lot of them. Kurt was sure he could see bruises in the shape of shoes all along Puck’s side. Every inch of him looked covered in a painful mark.
“Kurt,” Carole’s voice pulled him away from eyeing Puck’s injuries. “Finn,” she added when Finn walked into the room. “Finn, can you get Dr Jones then find some clothes for Puck?”
“Sure, Mom,” Finn agreed.
“What should I do?” Kurt asked.
“I need you to hold Puck’s wings so I can put cream on some of the cuts,” Carole replied. “Is that alright?” she asked Puck.
Puck nodded. Normally he could just retract his wings enough to give her access to his back but with his injuries, it was too painful.
Kurt slowly walked across the room so he was standing behind Puck and he reached out to gently lift one of Puck’s wings. He drew his hand back immediately, yelping in pain at the same time as Puck collapsed to his knees. Kurt didn’t know what was happening but his vision were bright until he had to shut his eyes to shield himself.
“Oh boys,” Carole gasped, reaching out to help Puck back to his feet.
“Mom, what was that?”
Carole helped Puck back to his bed before she answered. “I’ve never seen that happen before, but I’ve heard of it.”
“Mom, you’re kind of scaring me,” Kurt confessed.
“You’re a perfect match.”
“But that hasn’t happened in centuries,” Kurt protested. “And I’m promised to Blaine. We’re supposed to meet tomorrow.”
“I’m sure,” his mom said with tears in her eyes. “You belong together. The Andersons will have to make other plans for Blaine.”
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Cooper had been under no obligation to choose Blaine, in fact some clans forbid the choosing of a sibling when forming a new clan, but Blaine had been under the assumption his brother wanted him. Their relationship hadn’t been the best, Cooper would pick on him all the time, but they were still brothers and he could have pulled his own weight in Cooper’s new clan. But his brother had married and left without ever looking back and Blaine hadn’t heard from him since the wedding.
He couldn’t lie and say Cooper’s choice didn’t feel like a betrayal. The weeks leading up to the wedding, Copper had been the nicest Blaine could remember and his hopes of going to Los Angeles as a member of his brother’s new clan were high. They lasted until the day of the wedding, when Cooper announced his new clan members and Blaine wasn’t among them. He had spent so much time bragging to his friends that his brother was going to choose him and when Cooper hadn’t, it left him open to their ridicule.
Blaine spent a lot of time after his brother’s wedding lashing out at everyone in the clan. His parents had to take their attentions from serious matters to deal with the problems he’d created and there were a lot of members of their clan who resented him. Blaine suspected part of the decision to arrange a marriage for him was to get him away from those clan members but he was going to head his own clan so he couldn’t complain.
“Blaine,” Rachel Berry gracefully dropped from the sky, landing on the ground in front of his house. He was lounging on his porch, soaking up the summer sun, and he wasn’t in the mood to be disturbed.
“Not now Rachel,” she was his closest friend in the clan, and really the only one who understood him. She would definitely be his first choice for his new clan and he’d make sure she was given a high rank.
“You have a message from the Hummels,” she waved a letter in the air. She’d obviously ignored the no flying during the day rule to go check their mailbox but he’d never report her. “Open it. I wonder if it’s a love letter.”
Blaine almost rolled his eyes. Rachel was a huge romantic and she dreamed of falling in love the human way, meeting a guy and dating and being worshipped. It wasn’t something that typically happened to people like them, children of high ranking Gargoyles in a clan, but Blaine didn’t have it in him to kill her dream. She was, after all, the one person who’d never stopped talking to him through all his problem days.
“Well,” Rachel bounced on her heels and her wings fluttered behind her in excitement. “What does it say?”
“Impatient,” he teased. He’d been in a much better mood since his parents had announced his wedding and he’d even managed to repair some of his broken relationships with clan members. “It says,” his eyes drifted over the words, “the wedding’s off. They claim Kurt’s met his True Match.”
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It was another person in Blaine’s life who decided not to choose him. Kurt choose someone else, just like Cooper had at his wedding.
“They better be able to prove this claim,” Blaine spat, crumpling the letter and tossing it to the ground. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” he added to Rachel. She was a horrible gossip. “I need to inform my parents of this development. They’ll need to decide what payment they want from the Hummels when I expose them for being liars.”
“Let me know how I can help,” Rachel said before taking to the air again.
Blaine appreciated the offer but this betrayal was something he needed to take care of himself.
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Kurt’s ceremony would have been attended by only members of his clan and the Dalton clan. His parents wanted to keep their introduction simple and private, less chance of something going wrong. Kurt wasn’t sure if there were a lot of rogues in the area, other than Puck, but there was a growing number of Gargoyles who wanted to destroy the clans under protest of being ruled, and if the word got out that they had been about to create a new clan, there could have been an attack.
Instead the Dalton clan wasn’t coming and the ceremony was being changed to celebrate him and Puck being a True Match.
Kurt hadn’t been allowed to see Puck since the rogue had fallen asleep yesterday, almost as soon as his mom had announced that they were a True Match. According to his mom, since Puck was such a low-ranked Gargoyle compared to Kurt, the Match drained most of his energy, and his mom had insisted he remain in bed to recover. Kurt had felt a little dizzy afterwards but because he was the son of the heads of the clan, the energy drain barely affected him. What did affect him was the feeling of emptiness from being separated from his Match. His mom promised the feeling would go away after their introduction, as would Puck’s energy drain, but for now, all Kurt wanted to do was curl up in his bed and cry.
“Dude, Dad wants to know if you’re ready,” Finn poked his head into his room.
“I am,” Kurt told him, then he got a good look at his brother. “But you’re not. Get over here so I can fix your tie.”
“I hate it,” Finn pouted. “It keeps choking me,”
Kurt laughed as he undid the knot. “Not if you tie it right. And it’ll make Mom so happy.”
“Yeah,” Finn sighed. Kurt knew his brother hated wearing anything beyond the clan’s normal clothes of a loose shirt and either jeans or shorts, with two slits in the shirt’s back for their wings. Some of the female Gargoyles wore dresses or skirts, but they were limited to clothes they could make themselves or clothes they could trade for when it was their turn to go to the village.
“Was there any mail today?” he asked. He and his parents had sent out the notice about the Match to the Dalton clan and he wanted to know how they took the news.
“Nope,” Finn shook his head, earning himself a light slap on the arm for messing up Kurt’s efforts fixing his tie. ‘Sorry.”
“There,” Kurt announced as he finished with his brother’s tie. “Now you’re ready.”
“Thanks Kurt,” Finn flashed him a smile.
Kurt smiled as he followed his brother out of the house. He’d peeked out at his clan setting up for his introduction ceremony and he’d overheard the members’ conversations floating to him through his open window. Everyone was excited to see Puck and everyone was excited that a True Match happened to their clan. It could be another hundred or more years before another True Match happened.
“Hey Dad,” Finn grinned as their dad walked up to them.
“Finn, I need to talk to Kurt,” their dad said and Finn immediately left them alone, finding Sam in the crowd. “Son, how are you feeling about all this?”
“A little overwhelmed,” Kurt admitted. He’d gone from having an arranged marriage with someone he’d hoped to grow to love to loving Puck the second they touched.
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“Your mother says Puck’s accepting of your Match,” his dad always could read his thoughts too easily. “She’s explained everything to him but his previous clan had already told him about a True Match.”
“But…” Kurt also knew his father well enough to know there was something else.
“Some clans could challenge the Match since he’s a rogue,” his dad confessed. “We’ve sent word to a few clans that we trust and they’re sending someone to authenticate the Match. The more clans we have on our side, the less chance someone will cause problems.”
“I’m sorry.”
His dad pulled him in for a tight hug. “This isn’t your fault Son. You didn’t ask for this to happen, it was decided a long time ago by something beyond our control that if you and Puck ever met, you’d be connected. I’m so proud of the way you’re handling everything.”
“Thanks Dad,” Kurt smiled against his father’s chest. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
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The next thing he knew, he was waking up on a soft bed and he felt safe. He felt like he belonged again, something he never should have felt after the moment his clan cast him out. His connection to other Gargoyles should have been severed but when he woke up, he felt a stronger connection to the Gargoyle world than he had when he was a member of his old clan.
There had been another Gargoyle in the room with him, one who look around his age and from the way he carried himself, Puck could tell he held a high rank in his clan. Puck guessed he was the son of the heads of his clan.
The boy introduced himself as Kurt and Puck told the boy his name. Or his nickname. The only people who called him Noah were his mom and sister, who he no longer had any contact with since he was thrown out of their clan. His mother never really paid much attention to him but he worried what his little sister would do without him. She had never made many friends in their clan, and the those who did try to befriend her did so because of his troublemaker reputation and weren’t the kinds of people Puck wanted his baby sister hanging around.
The boy, Kurt, had ran off and returned with an older woman who he introduced as his mother, Carole. Puck recognized her from one of the books in his Gargoyles history class as one of the heads of The Clan of the Lima Forest. That would make her married to Burt Hummel if Puck remembered his clans correctly. He always had a hard time keeping all the names and faces straight.
Carole had taken care of his injuries after sending Kurt out of the room. Puck only knew the other boy’s name but the second Kurt left, he wanted him back. When Carole needed help to clean the injuries on his back, she asked him if it would be alright if she got Kurt to come help and he’d quickly agreed. He needed to see Kurt again.
Kurt came back, followed by a tall boy who Carole immediately sent back out for a doctor and clothes. She’d called the other boy Finn, and that meant he was Kurt’s younger brother. If Puck hadn’t remembered that from his class, he never would have guessed; they looked nothing alike. Carole asked Kurt to hold his wings and it took a lot of effort from Puck not to flinch as Kurt stepped closer to him. The last time someone touched his wings, it was to hold them out of the way as someone else unmarked him.
He didn’t realize he was holding his breath as Kurt gently lifted his wing. It was immediate. He felt like someone reached inside him and sucked out all his energy. He didn’t even have the strength to stay on his feet and his legs folded under him. He heard Kurt cry out in pain but he didn’t have the energy to turn his head to see what was wrong. He had to let Carole help him back to the bed and he heard her talking to Kurt but there was a buzzing noise in his head. He couldn’t hear what she was saying but he heard the words ‘True Match’.
It had to be a mistake. That was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.
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