Kurt turned the key to enter his house, and shut the door quietly behind him. As he walked through the empty house to his bedroom, averting his gaze from the kitchen, he felt completely alone once again. Even when surrounded by crying friends and well-intentioned relatives during the past week, he had still felt incredibly lonely. He hated their sympathetic looks and the whispers of "orphan" when they didn't think he could hear. Even Carole didn't offer much comfort, as she had her own grieving son to deal with, who hadn't spoken a word to Kurt since calling him into the kitchen that afternoon. Through an awkward conversation with Rachel, who had surprisingly flown home from New York for the funeral, Kurt learned that Finn partially blamed Kurt for what had happened, but also felt guilty for losing his temper. Both boys, though they hadn't spoken to each other about it, speculated that Burt had heard the argument and attempted to come downstairs, but the stress and the physical exercise of running down the stairs had been far too much for his heart to handle.

Not only did he lose his father and the closest thing he had to a brother in that incident, he thought, ignoring the painful tightness in his chest at that idea as he hung his suit jacket up in the closet, but also he lost his best friend. He hadn't seen or heard from Blaine since the ambulance pulled away, leaving the stunned and scared boy standing alone in the driveway. He really could have used someone to stand with him at the wake, or hold his hand at the cemetery, but maybe it was better that Blaine wasn't in attendance for either of those events; Finn likely would have done much worse than just storming out of the church when Kurt delivered the eulogy. Kurt sat down on his bed as he loosened his tie and undid his cufflinks. He ignored the urge to text Blaine just one more time, asking why he had to leave when he was all Kurt had left. The day before the funeral, Kurt had actually gone over to Mrs. Phillips to ask her about Blaine, who hadn't returned his messages or phone calls in five days. She just smiled sadly and said that he had already left for New York, without offering any further information. Kurt knew that the Warblers' success in the city was important to Blaine, and that the boy probably didn't know how to handle Kurt's grief on top of his own guilt. Apparently Blaine hadn't been exaggerating when he told Kurt that he had a habit of running away from his problems; Kurt just wished he would have stayed and this time they could have dealt with it together.

Kurt sighed wearily as he looked at the clock, thinking he should probably start cooking dinner because his dad would be hungry soon - he froze mid-thought and sunk back down onto his bed, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him. His dad was really gone. All of his efforts to feed his dad healthy food and keep him from overexerting himself were wasted. Why didn't his dad get better? Why didn't he call the doctor again when his dad had been even more tired? And why did he let Blaine come over that afternoon at all? How could he have cared more about hanging out with a stupid boy who would leave him without a second thought, than his own father who had been there for him from tea-parties to glee concerts? He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. He curled up on his bed, for once not caring about wrinkling his clothes, and finally let himself break down completely, not even bothering to keep quiet because there was no one there to hear his sobs. He cried for his dad, whom he had failed to save; for Finn, whom he could no longer call his step-brother; for Blaine, whom he had thought was different but ended up leaving him just like everyone else; and lastly for his Broadway dreams. He let out a mixture of a laugh/sob as he realized the irony of his current situation; without his dad, he no longer had any ties to Ohio and was free to pursue a career in New York City. But with the guilt of his father's death, he would never really be free. Thanks to the last conversation he had with Finn and Blaine, he wouldn't feel right moving to the city when his need for fame had caused his own dad to die. If that's what he had been willing to sacrifice to become famous, he didn't deserve any recognition for his talents. Nothing was worth giving up his father, who had been the one consistent thing in his entire life.

Kurt cried for what seemed like days before finally running out of tears. He sat up on the bed, rubbed his eyes, and let his mind wander to his other options; all he had ever dreamed of was performing. Maybe he could move to Columbus and take classes in fashion, or interior design. It wasn't singing in the Big Apple, but he could learn to enjoy it. Or he could even become a teacher. Now that he would never realize his own dream, maybe he could at least help other kids achieve theirs. Kurt would just have to rebuild his life in Ohio after this tragedy. But this time, no one would be there to hold his hand

Author's note: 10 points to your Hogwarts house if you figured out that the plot of this fic is based on the Dumbledore/Grindewald storyline in the Harry Potter series. And if you didn't figure it out, I'm guessing some of the characters' actions make a lot more sense now! Unfortunately it meant that the story had to have a very unhappy ending, but I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. I warned you that it would be full of angst!

Anyways, I am so happy and surprised that I finished a multi-chaptered fanfic! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate all of your support! If you're not too upset with me over how it ended, feel free to come visit on tumblr to let me know what you thought or just say hello - and you can find some great fic recs to read until I start posting my next story! 3