A/N: Hi all, yes, still alive (although it's been a struggle at times) and like I've said before, still writing this damned thing, somehow. It may take me a while, but I'm not abandoning it.
This chapter is really, really short. I was struggling to get the next bits written, getting sick (AGAIN! Sigh) and suddenly realised that the bit I was really wrestling with was just holding the rest of the chapter back. So, rather than take another year to make it all perfect, I decided to tidy up the bit that WEREN'T causing me a breakdown and at least get SOMETHING out (so people don't start checking the funeral notices for me or giving up on this dumb story entirely)

The tricky bit is still being tricky (of course), but hopefully I can feel unpressured enough now to just let it sort itself out. That's the problem with this fic – I truly have no idea where it's heading until I write the damn words (and sometimes not even then!)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Glee, I'm not a Trump, I'm not even a Timelord (well... technically...)

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He could multitask like a boss!
Dr Thomas Black was justifiably proud of his ability to multitask. He had not only graduated top of his year at Harvard Medical School, but had managed the previously unequalled feat of simultaneously graduating with a second degree in Medical Law. His decision to specialise in Emergency Medicine rather than the more lucrative or prestigious fields open to him had shocked none of his friends or university colleagues but had flabbergasted his parents and most of his academic advisors.

He lived for three things: helping those in need; rising to a challenge; fostering the talents of others.

Tonight he was in his element.

Not that he would ever wish the suffering and trauma that this accident had wreaked on the lives and bodies of those poor souls caught up in it, but he had no self deception about his love of difficult tasks. He had been struggling, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of chaos at the scene before Dr Lopez had arrived. He remembered their first meeting at a Medical Conference in Miami. When he had first seen the striking woman he had, for a moment, thought that he was having one of those 'celebrity encounters' he'd read about in the papers. Theresa Lopez could have been Gloria Estefan's twin sister. Before he had even been able to tell her of his attraction to her, however, the perceptive woman had informed him that she was happily married to a wonderful man, a dentist, who she had no intention of ever cheating on. Thomas liked that sort of honesty.

When he had spotted her in the crowd walking past, he had only thought of how competent she had seemed during that conference and he had not even noticed the person she had been walking with.

Now he was pressed up against that person as she held the torch he needed to see by over the trapped and frightened girl in the remains of the back of the bus that had caused the whole accident. He had given his headband torch to Dr Lopez, thinking he would simply get the spare from his ambulance, only to discover that someone had neglected to charge it properly. Now he was reaching through the shattered side of a crumpled New York City public bus trying to assess the internal injuries of a teenage girl without x-rays or ultrasounds while the solid, rather attractively muscled body of Shannon Bieste was pressed against his back as she held both the much needed torch and the attention of the terrified girl.

Shannon... A real nice name. She was competent too. He'd never seen such sure movements or quick thinking in an EMT before. She had kept up a reassuring flow of chatter and explanation for her charges too, easing their panic while she treated their wounds. Plus she was almost as tall as he was, and built...and... he concentrated on the job at hand.

"What's your name sugar?" Shannon Bieste asked the girl who lay trapped between the ceiling and the seat of the crumpled bus.

"Madison"

"Like the avenue? Ooh, fancy!"

"What happened? What..."

"There was a little bit of a crash, you'll be fine honey, Dr Black is gonna check you out and then we'll see about getting someone to help you out of this mess, ok?"

"The lady who sat beside me... she went out the window before we rolled..."

"Dr Black's offsider has already seen her." Shannon smoothed over the girl's stutter, "You just concentrate of telling us where it hurts sugar, and don't say 'everywhere', that's cheating!"

"My back... and my right side..."

"Let's see if I can hear anything there." Dr Black said smiling.

"So where were you headed?" Shannon smiled to try to get the young girl to not fixate on her predicament.

"I was coming back from the airport. My best friend just flew off to Ohio to live. I miss him already."

"Hey! I'm from Ohio too! I'm the Football coach at McKinley High. That's in Lima."

"Lima!" The girl's eyes were huge, "Are you Dave's coach?"

"What?"

"Dave Karofsky... I met him the other day outside Harry Winston's. Boy do I wish he was here now..."

"You... You wish Dave was here?" Dr Black asked.

"Oh... um... no... I mean... He was just so nice and kind. No special reason. I didn't..."

"It's OK sugar," Shannon said quickly, "I wish he was here too, and I think I know exactly why you want him here."

"With Jeff too of course. He wasn't there when... it wasn't good."

"I heard all about that." Shannon said carefully, "Blaine told us all about it."

"Are you... are you 'friends' with Blaine too?" Madison asked carefully.

Thomas frowned at the strange inflections both the girl and Coach Bieste had been making as they talked.

"Shannon, you didn't hear anything about when the rest of the emergency services were getting here did you? I'd really be happier if we got this young lady out sooner rather than later..."

"You worried about pressure build up?" Shannon murmured in his ear.

"Yes. How did you know? That's not something that's really common. Most EMTs..."

"I've seen it before, and recently." Shannon seemed to think deeply about something. "Madison... I'm not like Dave, but I'm getting you out of here now, ok honey?"

"The crew isn't here yet." Dr Black was confused.

"Dr Black... Tom... when I lift the roof off her, you slide her out ok?"

Thomas was totally lost now.

"The metal bar of the seat is wrapped across my hip too Coach." Madison said softly.

Shannon reached a hand over to the offending steel.

"Dr Black... please don't freak out too bad, ok?"

She got a couple of fingers under the twisted metal and tensed her arm. The seat twisted away from Madison's hip freeing her a little.

Then Shannon stood up, tearing the ceiling away from them like paper.

Dr Black multitasked like a boss. He pulled the now freed body of Madison out from the wreckage, while keeping a close eye on her vitals, checking her for other previously hidden injuries and internally freaking out... like a boss.

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The crowd was too bright.

Silver ribbons of pulsing light darted and flew between many of the prey. Somewhere deep in its collective memory the swarm was wary.

This was a memory.
Approaching such light was pain, was dissolution.

Luckily, the mission was not to approach, although many of the host yearned and hungered for the bright life below. The mission was merely to threaten, to distract.
One of the Sluagh, driven beyond caution by the hunger for human essence drifted too close to a bright one. As it reached hands to drink the life-force of the prey it had chosen, the bright one beside it reached out and touched the outstretched claws.

The host shuddered as one of its own was destroyed by the silver light.

The mission, remember the mission.
Stay close; do not approach; flee slowly when counter-attacked; sacrifice the host if needed; keep the Fae-Lords here and in ignorance until the trap is set.

The Ban-Sidhe had no regrets that the mission would almost certainly result in the eventual destruction of it and its horde.

There were more... there were always more.

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Sebastian was so tired that all he wanted to do was weep, but he didn't even have the energy to do that. His memories were still awhirl with images, words, smells... He remembered the darkness, the pain. He remembered the kiss that had brought someone back to life. He remembered... Elliot.

Turning his head from his father's stare he saw the small boy, flanked on either side by Blaine?... the boy who had lived... the naked, beautiful one... his name was Blaine... and that was Blaine's father... and the other was...

Sebastian had no memory of the tall, terrifying woman who stood with her long bony fingers gently resting on Elliot's shoulder.

Beyond them, was a wall of light and through the wall of light was... madness.

The trees on the patio were writhing, dying, rotting where they stood. Only within the circle of light was there peace.

"Sebastian, "a familiar voice whispered to him, "Come here at once my boy. Come here. I forgive you. Come to me"

No one else seemed to see his father standing there, hidden in the shadows just beyond the circle.

Sebastian wanted to go to him, but he was so tired...

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"Why aren't they attacking?" Kurt muttered as the Ban-Sidhe continued to circle overhead. Only one had drifted close enough to counterattack, aiming for one of the Nebraskan choir members. Luckily Emma Pillsbury had been close enough to disrupt the foul creature as it came in for the kill.

The crowd was frightened, but not panicked. Jeff had reached out with his empathic power to help mitigate any panic, and had found surprisingly little. New Yorkers, it seemed, were fast learners.

"They're waiting for something." Blaine said, his enhanced mind already whirling with possible outcomes. "If we leave, the crowd here will be dead in seconds; if we stay, whatever it is they are doing somewhere else will be unopposed."

"We could split up?" Mike suggested.

"No, "Wes might not be a Timelord, but he was an excellent thinker, "We don't know what's going to happen. Remember what happened last time we split up. In fact, that might be what they are waiting for – lure a smaller group of us into a trap and not have to face us all at once."

"I wish I knew what was happening back at the hotel." Beau said quietly, his dreadlocks swinging slightly as he bowed his head, "I've got a date with Song Lee tomorrow night."

"Ooh! "Trent teased, "Way to aim high!"

"I think the Tower is under attack too, "Quinn murmured softly, "I felt my mom trying to call for help using her powers, but I didn't answer."

"You think this fulfils the prophecy?"Santana asked, "That's probably what they are hoping we'll do, rush off to save our friends and somehow trap us there."

"We can't let them dictate the battle, "Blaine said firmly, "But judging from previous events, I think it's a safe bet that they'll have a contingency ready for anything we've already done to them, as well as for the most likely efforts we might make."

"So?" Puck raised a brow.

"So we do something unexpected."

"Such as?" Santana was raising a brow now.

"We figure out what the most likely course of action we would take if we were being smart is, and the most unlikely and probably foolish thing, and then do the one that's most guaranteed to fail!" Blaine smiled as he said it.

"It's like Opposite Day!" Brittany chirped cheerfully, gently stroking her winged friend as it climbed up her shoulder to hide in her hair.