AN: I LIVE.

Yes! Two years on and I've finally done some updates.

I want to start by saying I'm incredibly sorry this took so long to do. I suddenly got an influx of RPs during that summer after I graduated high school so I was pre-occupied with them quite a lot and I had tried updating fanfics but it didn't really work. I then started college which was a performing arts course and it just tired me the hell out so I could only focus on my RPs as it would be less than 1000 words per RP reply as opposed to over 2k+ for about six fanfics. I started a musical theatre course this year (it was just acting a nd a little bit of singing last year), and as you've probably guessed, it's a lot more tiring. My course has also caused a lot of problems with my anxiety so writing as a whole has been the last thing on my mind for many months now, but over the Christmas holidays, I decided to finally update these. I'm making it my New Year's resolution to get at least one update done a month, even if it's just one chapter like this (if things go to plan it will be more than one but it's just in case something happens that prevents me from doing a lot).

I've also come to the decision to rewrite two of my fanfics here too; Bringing Something We Must Learn and Sad Look That You Wear So Well will be rewritten. The reasons for this being pacing issues with the former (I just wanted to get to the point with some things and I really wish that I took it slower) and with the latter, I want to change the narrative from first person to third. I am very proud of the chapters I did for SLTYWSW and it gave more of an authentic feel as The Hunger Games was written in the first person but I feel it turned a lot of people off it. Another reason is that it was based on an RP and that RP is long dead without me having much source material (especially as a lot of the characters weren't my OCs or interpretations of canon characters), along with the fact I had a former co-writer. The characterisation is going to be too different and I feel like it will be too jarring. But not to worry! I will be keeping up the old stories there. They just won't be updated again (apart from a short chapter explaining my reasons for rewriting being expanded out more).

Before I post the chapter, I just want to say again that I'm really sorry for my inactivity in posting over the last two years, especially without saying why and you have every right to be mad at me. So, with that being said, I'm fine with you sending me messages on my tumblr. I have a new account and my url is crisscolfersrps. So if I'm taking to long, just send me a (polite) message about it, and I'll get around to doing it ASAP and it should be done within a week. If I don't, I'll reply and let you know what the hold up is.

So, with that out of the way, here is the long awaited fifth chapter of this!

Despite how hungry he was, Kurt had decided that the deal of staying in Hunter and Sebastian's room while also having at least one of them present during meals was definitely worse than being tied up in that freezing basement.

The 'sharing a bed and room' part of the deal was something that Kurt had been dreading, especially considering the sleazy behaviour that the Warblers had developed since his and Blaine's departure - but the meals? Kurt thought the meals would be okay. Tolerable even. Neither of the two boys wouldn't be talking so he could block them out and just focus on his own food.

But how wrong Kurt was. Even the way Hunter and Sebastian ate was obnoxious. Hunter ate like he had been starved for fifteen years and was somehow still alive, and Sebastian ate like a fussy child and was picking at his food and had separated everything so none of the different kinds of food were touching, which had made Kurt send them a disgusted look and a look of disbelief respectively. Just watching the two of them eat was putting Kurt off his food, even if his mouth was watering just at the sight and smell of the food.

"So," Hunter said, after swallowing the bite he was eating (thank god he had the decency to not talk with his mouthful, "Since we've held up our part of the deal, it's time for you to do the same. What do you know about Nightbird and his whereabouts?"

"Speaking of holding up our deal, aren't you going to eat? The new kids busted their asses cooking this for you," Sebastian said, his mouth full of food which caused Kurt to scoff loudly. Of course he'd be the one to do that. It was almost like they were working together to irritate him. However, Sebastian's words did prompt him to start eating, and slowly, Kurt started to eat the meal that was in front of him. It was one of the best meals he'd had - out of all the things that had stayed the same about Dalton since he was there, Kurt was glad it was the quality of the food - but Kurt was careful not to eat too fast or too much. It had been so long since he'd eaten anything that he didn't want to make himself sick.

"Well, I've told you already I don't know where Nightbird is," Kurt started, slowly sipping his water. His voice was still incredibly raspy from thirst, and he didn't exactly want to talk with these two sounding like he did. They probably didn't find his voice threatening in the first place, but they were even less likely to listen to him if he sounded like Joan Rivers if she'd lost her voice. "I'd guess McKinley considering that's where his headquarters is, but I'm sure you've already looked there and not found him, right?"

The looks on the other two boys faces just confirmed this for Kurt, and while he wanted to grin at them, Kurt refrained and continued on.

"As for what I know, I know just as much about him as you do. I know that you've still got all his records, and knowing what you lot are like, you've probably been stalking him as well so that's probably making up for the fact you don't have me anymore. Honestly, how you managed so long just stalking and barging in places I'll never know. Especially with Sebastian. He's never been one for subtlety," Kurt said, managing a slight glare at Sebastian before turning his attention back to Hunter. It was the new leader who had wanted to know about Blaine, after all. "And before you suggest it, no. I'm not going to hack into anyone's databases to get information. One thing I don't think you realise is that Blaine trusted me enough to tell me all the things you'd need a hacker for."

He caught the looks that were across Hunter and Sebastian's face, like they were actually thinking about what he was saying for once as opposed to blatantly ignoring him or only thinking about what he was saying for about ten seconds at most.

"Also, I don't think it's a good idea to have me near a computer... I could easily send out a distress signal and oh, I don't know, tell every single person out there about the things you do in this place and have the police here in a matter of minutes. But I'm sure even you two could've put that together."

Of course, that wasn't what Kurt had in mind at all. There was no way that he was going to ask for help with this, especially if it meant Blaine getting involved. Which he surely would as soon as the police found out. It wasn't even entirely personal towards Blaine. He knew Blaine had a thing about saving people, and it was one of the many things that Kurt loved about the other. But he didn't want to rely on the other. He didn't want to be some damsel in distress who needed his ex-boyfriend to come running in and saving him. No, that wasn't going to happen. It happened far too many times when he was in the Warblers and after he left (Kurt hadn't been in any situation that was as drastic as his current situation). He wasn't going to be that person any more. For once, Kurt Hummel was going to save his own ass, even if Blaine was going to do whatever he could to get into the fortress that was Dalton Academy.

He took this time while he was thinking his potential to escape plans to look at his two captors' reactions to what he'd said, and was clear that actually, Sebastian and Hunter hadn't thought of that and they looked at each other with slightly surprised looks and from how Sebastian's eyes were flitting around at his lap for a few moments, he was probably thinking of some other way the Warblers could use Kurt. Excluding the reason that was actually concerning Kurt.

But Kurt pretended as though he wasn't aware of their shock - both to spare his own sanity, and to try and get a clear answer out of both Hunter and Sebastian. Or even if it was just one of them..

"So, it's clear that I'm not just here for my skills, am I?" Kurt asked, with a quirk eyebrow, "I don't think I'm here just to perform 'services' and it's obviously something more than just finding out about Nightbird. Otherwise, you wouldn't have sent the message to him because you could get the info out of me and send me on my merry way, and it would've been too much effort to kidnap me from New York for anything that wasn't I don't think this is something to get him to rejoin your acapella gestapo, because really? Do you think that Blaine would even think about joining you again when you've kidnapped someone he cares about"

Kurt hadn't expected it to, but his own words stung. Did Blaine actually care about him? Even though they'd broken up, and even though Kurt wasn't happy about Blaine prioritising unnecessary Nightbird duties, Kurt still cared about Blaine. And he'd thought that care and concern would be mutual but he'd been here two days and Blaine had no attempt to save him. Of course, Kurt didn't want him to but still. Kurt thought Blaine would've at least gotten in contact with the Warblers. Much to his relief, neither of the boys noticed that his own words had affected him and so Kurt continued on like it hadn't happened, "So, how about you tell me what the real reason I'm here is and we can get this over and done with?"

"That," Hunter said, after being silent for an unnerving amount of time after Kurt spoke, "Is something that will be discussed later. "

"Why?" Kurt frowned, having to admit that he was annoyed that Hunter didn't even give him a hint. Like Hunter had said earlier, he was the hostage. He wasn't in a position to bargain with him or Sebastian but seriously? He deserved to know. He was involved in this too.

"Because the reason will make you flip out and we've got things to do as soon as we finish eating, and we really can't do with your bitching," Sebastian said, for the first time since they'd arrived here (Kurt refused to count Sebastian's food filled mumbling as him talking). His words earned a glare from Hunter, indicating that he had cut the other off from saying something like 'It's not the time' or 'It'll make itself apparent soon' or some other cryptic bullshit that Hunter was fully capable off, "So shut your mouth, unless it's to put food in your mouth so we can get our plans out of the way."

When Kurt had heard that Hunter and Sebastian had things to do after dinner, Kurt was anticipating some kind of sleazy thing that would involve him in one of their bed or on his knees, but instead, they'd returned to the common rooms where the Warblers would actually practice show choir things on the very rare occasion they weren't wrapped up in something illegal. Of course, that wasn't what they were doing as all the other boys were still roaming around the school halls so that had meant they were planning something else - something that probably had to do with him and Blaine - and it was meant to be 'top secret'.

While this was going on, Kurt had been left with the duties of running around after the other Warblers, making sure that they were happy, fed, and watered. Which wasn't as bad as Kurt had thought it would be. With the exception of newer additions (which weren't that many), most of them had been friendly towards him, especially the boys Kurt had met when he had been working here with Blaine. In fact, they almost seemed sympathetic to his situation and while they clearly weren't going to be doing anything to help him escape, they did make his life a lot easier at Dalton, and often dismissed Kurt's offer to get them anything or helped him out. It felt strange having people who were supposed to be his enemy, people who were keeping him hostage be so friendly but it was appreciated. They were old friends after all, and Kurt supposed he couldn't actually blame them for his situation. Kurt didn't know what they felt about the other captives they had, but they didn't seem to be happy about Kurt being one of them. More than likely, they had no say in what was going on. Hunter's word was final, and there was probably a harsh threat to keep them in line and make sure that they wouldn't do anything that was against what Hunter, and maybe Sebastian, had told them.

But that wasn't the most surprising thing that had happened while he was here. Over the last few days, his duties of being a glorified babysitter and maid was all the duties he had been given. Nothing sexual had been forced on him at all. The most he'd had was being tied up and had the tape over his mouth while on Hunter's lap but that didn't count. That was meant for something else, mainly to make sure he didn't scream or try to run off when he still had the strength to do so. So the most sexual thing that had happened, would be the nights he shared a bed with Hunter and he'd felt the other's arm over his waist and pinning him place into the mattress so he wouldn't move from the bed.

He had questioned Sebastian about it (surprisingly, Kurt had actually trusted Sebastian a hell of a lot more than he trusted Hunter) and Sebastian's response was yet another thing that had shocked him: "We're giving Blaine a chance to come to us first before we do anything with you so we can actually negotiate with him. This will change by the end of the week, so don't get too comfortable. We're just wanting to make sure Blaine will comply with even the slightest bit of leverage first," Kurt frowned, about to ask what he and Hunter even had planned for Blaine but the other cut him off, with his signature smirk plastered on his face, "Why are you asking? Are you wanting to just jump straight into the sex. I have to admit it's a first for us... we need to coax them slightly but if you're just wanting to do it right now, then maybe we can start without talking to Blaine first..."

Before the other could attempt anything, Kurt scoffed loudly and kicked the other in the shins - the first form of contact between them since they started sharing a bed - and turned around as he attempted to block the other out and hoped that this wouldn't be something Sebastian would be passing along onto Hunter when the morning came. It was bad enough having Sebastian being a perverted prick; he didn't need to have Hunter doing it as well.

It seemed Sebastian's words about waiting for Blaine were true as Kurt hadn't done anything lewd with him or Hunter yet. He still continued the duties he had for the past few days, and had spent a fair amount of time catching up with the Warblers he'd befriended at his time with Dalton without making this obvious to any of the new members or the other higher ups that weren't Hunter or Sebastian that didn't care about his previous relationship with them. Both him and the friendlier Warblers would end up in trouble if they were caught being at all friendly. Their civility was making things a lot easier to deal with, but Kurt didn't want to endanger them just because he wanted a friend in here. Especially considering that he wasn't going to be here for very long.

This continued until a week had passed since his arrival. When he woke up in Hunter's bed that morning, Hunter told him to get changed into the clothes that he'd arrived in before disappearing into the bathroom to wear the trademark Warbler blazer.

The thought of wearing the clothes made Kurt grimace, knowing that they hadn't been washed and were just left in a hamper this entire time. The Warblers had been courteous enough to give him some spare clothes that had they'd kept for the very rare guest of certain importance. Some of them had belonged to him while he was staying in his own dorm. They still fit him for the most part - some of the jeans were slightly too short and a few of his shirts felt a little tighter around him but it was bearable. At least he was wearing clothes that were to his own taste. Sebastian must have suggested this to Hunter, knowing that Kurt would not be willing to comply being stuck in the same dirty clothes for this length of time, and Kurt hated the slight feeling of gratitude that he'd felt for Sebastian for actually considering this.

He didn't question Hunter's decision about wearing the dirty clothes, and reluctantly slipped them on. Kurt turned to the mirror and was about to adjust them so they'd feel somewhat comfortable against his skin when Hunter reappeared, a frown on his face.

"We don't have time for that, so hurry up and get out," Hunter half snapped at him. Before Kurt could even open his mouth to speak, the other was pushing him out of the room and dragged him towards the senior commons.

When they arrived there, the room was more or less the same as it was when Kurt had first arrived - the large Queen Anne chair was turned away from the tables and was facing the centre of the room, and a camera was set up in front of it, this time with a tripod rather than Sebastian holding onto it. Suddenly, the reason for the dirty clothes was starting to make more sense.

"Get over here," Sebastian said shortly as soon as he noticed was in the room. Kurt couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly and walked over to where the slightly taller male was standing.

"So, what are we going to be doing in this video, this time?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Sebastian said, as he walked behind then grabbed Kurt's arms and roughly pulled them behind his back, before he starting bounding his wrists with a rope that seemingly came out of nowhere. "All you need to do is sit on the floor and play the part of the hostage."

Letting out a frustrated noise, Kurt was about to open his mouth to get a better answer out of Sebastian, when it came out as a muffled noise as a strip of tape was placed over his mouth. Kurt turned his head to look at Sebastian with a raised eyebrow, receiving just a shrug from the other.

"You had one on in the first video," Sebastian said with a shrug, "Now, I know you're going to hate what I'm going to do here, so I'm just telling you in advance to shut up and deal with it,"

Without giving Kurt a second to prepare himself, Sebastian's hand was up and messing up Kurt's hair, making it even more messy than it was when Kurt came here a week ago. A suppressed noise of protest came from Kurt but he knew it was best not to complain - there were a lot worse things that Sebastian could be doing to him right now than messing his hair up.

Sebastian's 'adjustments' didn't end there; he stepped in front of Kurt and started pulling at his shirt and tucking it into his pants at some points to make him look more rumpled. The taller male then paused for a few moments before suddenly smacking Kurt across the cheek. The strike knocked Kurt off balance slightly both from the shock that Sebastian had done that and from the force that Sebastian had hit him. It seemed to be intentional as Sebastian took the opportunity Kurt was dazed to rip off some of the buttons from Kurt's shirt, which made Kurt shoot the other a filthy look (and make him glad that he decided to wear one of his cheaper shirts when he went out that night).

"Do you think we're good to go?" Sebastian said, moving to stand behind Kurt and turned him to face Hunter.

Hunter's face was still for a few moments as his eyes skimmed over Kurt's appearance, and took in even the slightest detail before finally speaking "He'll do. Now, bring him over here,"

Kurt walked with Sebastian as the other pulled him towards to Hunter who was just taking his seat in the large chair. Once the other was seated, Sebastian pushed Kurt onto the floor, which had just gotten him another glare from Kurt as he shifted to sit on his knees

"Are you ready?" Sebastian asked as he walked over to the camera.

Hunter grabbed Kurt's shoulder and pulled him back so that he was resting against the arm of one of the chair," Ready."

With that, Sebastian nodded, and turned on the camera. After a beeping noise rang throughout the room, and Sebastian signalled a thumbs up, Hunter began speaking.

"Nightbird, as you're aware it has been a week since we've tried to contact you and we've not even received as much as a calling card from you." Kurt tried not to roll his eyes when the other spoke - it was astoundingly clear that this was a speech Hunter had written and had rehearsed over and over again either on his own or with some Warbler at his feet to stand in for Kurt. Maybe he'd gotten Sebastian to be his stand in - a thought that nearly caused a shiver to run down his back because that was a mental image that Kurt really didn't need.

Hunter continued to speak above him, "Which is something I find surprising as I thought our hostage would give you an incentive to get back to us quickly.." As he spoke, Hunter's hand trailed down and gently tilted Kurt's head up to look at the camera. "I thought you would've came running at his suffering, but here we are..."

It was around then that Kurt blanked out of this conversation because of course they had to instil fear into Blaine rather than be honest and just tell him to get off his ass and come over here. It was kind of pathetic, if Kurt was being honest with himself , and Kurt couldn't help but just look bored as he zoned out when Hunter kept going on and on.

Sebastian seemed to notice this as his scoff pulled Kurt out of his trance "Stop. We can't do this," He said, pressing one of the buttons on the camera. "He just looks bored. Start again. And you," Kurt raised an eyebrow as his gaze met with Sebastian's "Actually try to look scared this time."

Kurt simply rolled his eyes and leaned against the armchair a little more and tried to look fearful when Hunter was speaking but it was hard - Hunter just wasn't being threatening and it was obvious that he was doing this to get a rise out of Blaine rather than actually trying to scare him so while his eyes were slightly wider than they were before, Kurt still just ended up looking bored and only slightly fazed by the whole ordeal.

Again this was something that Sebastian noticed and he got Hunter to start again. Which was quickly followed by him restarting when Sebastian complained about Kurt's reactions. This was something that kept happening until Sebastian seemingly snapped and snatched the camera off the tripod.

"This is ridiculous, we can't do this when he's behaving like this!" He said, gesturing to Kurt, "How is anyone supposed to believe he's even remotely scared.

At this, Kurt finally did roll his eyes and shot a sceptical look at Sebastian because really, what did the other expect? They hadn't done anything to even make him even remotely scared. Yes they were probably going to use him the same way that they'd use most of their male hostages but that was something Kurt was prepared for. He was far from someone who was looking forward to it but Kurt knew that he'd be doing it despite the dread that was filling him just thinking about it. But it wasn't going to stop him from getting out of here - the likelihood of being tied to the bed for the majority of the day was slim to none as he hadn't seen any of the hostage/slaves around - so it wasn't going to scare him.

"What are we supposed to do?" Sebastian asked, frowning slightly, "Should we knock him out? That way he's still in the video and it'll probably make Nightbird more paranoid."

"No, we don't need to do that, not unless it's a last resort" Hunter said, as a rare chuckle escaped his lips. "Just let me handle it,"

Hunter and Sebastian held each other's gaze for a few moments before eventually, Sebastian nodded and placed the camera back on the tripod. Kurt's brows knitted together in confusion as he tried to figure out the non-verbal communication between the two when his thoughts were cut off when Hunter harshly tugged on his hair and pulled his head back.

"Listen up, Hummel because this is something that I'm only going to say to you once," Hunter hissed out with his face only millimetres away from Kurt's. "You might think you've got it easy here because you used to be one of us, but that's going to end tonight. You will be complying to what we tell you and let me tell you, Nightbird and anyone else we have business with isn't the only person we have leverage over. We can extend this to our 'guests' if they aren't behaving the way they should... And if you keep on acting like this, we have absolutely no problem in giving a little visit to a house in Whitman Avenue and talking to some of the people who live there..."

For the first time since he'd arrived here, Kurt felt fear that he knew would last for more than just a few days. It might have just been an empty threat but Kurt hadn't even considered that Hunter would send the Warblers after his family. He didn't know why but he thought that him being a hostage would be enough for them, and it was only now that Kurt realised just how serious this was. He hadn't heard of them threatening to hurt hostages families if the hostage had done something 'unacceptable'. If they did, it would usually be the hostage would just be subjected to even more harm. Maybe that was a sign that the threat was genuine, and just the thought alone of the Warblers going after his family was terrifying enough.

Hunter seemed to have caught onto his fear as a smirk formed on his lips "I thought that would pull you into line.." He said, slowly releasing his grip on Kurt's hair. "Sebastian. Do it," Hunter said, his head snapping up somewhere behind Kurt.

Taking in a breath, Kurt slowly turned to look at the camera and prepared himself for another filming when feeling something hitting the side of his head harshly The pain seared through him and his vision blurred slightly before he collapsed on the floor by Hunter's feet.

AN: Wow, I really hope that was worth the wait. I'm also sorry for doing my usual asshole cliffhanger ending. This time, I did actually want to post more but I've been working on this for about a week and if I added in the part with Blaine watching the video, I think this would've went on for well 10k words - this alone was 4.3k. I also like focusing just on one character per chapter for this one. The next chapter will definitely have the new video in it, although I'm still deciding on whether or not it should be from Hunter and Sebastian's POV or Blaine's. That'll be something I'll decide when I get around to writing it :)

Anyway, please feel free to leave a review whether it's yelling at me for being lazy or fangirling over my not so triumphant return or telling me what you liked/disliked. Whatever it is, just leave a review because I love reading them hopefully as much as you loved reading this!