Title: Zephyr's Breath
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: R overall, NC-17 for chapter nineteen
Characters/Pairing: Finn/Kurt, minor Blaine/Sam
Chapter: 21/21
Word Count: 1747
Spoilers: Let's say everything to be safe :)
Summary/Warnings: Kurt Hummel is the captain of a feared pirate ship, the Zephyr's Breath, but everything changes when he finds a young man who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Also, for this chapter, character death (?).

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own these characters, no matter how sad that makes me. I do, however, promise to return them when I'm done with them. :)

Zephyr's Breath

Epilogue

Kurt Hummel was a shadow of his former self. The once quick-witted and bitingly humorous man was replaced by a spectre, a man with no direction and with a smile that never appeared. It scared Blaine more than he'd care to admit, seeing his friend and captain this way, and it got so bad that he and Sam had even invited Kurt to share an evening with them, just to get him to feel something.

Which would have worked until Kurt broke down crying in the midst of it, the two of them wrapping him up and comforting him well into the morning hours, and they'd never tried again.

Everything reminded Kurt of Finn, somehow, and Blaine knew that the other man considered it his fault.

It wasn't, but nothing anybody could say would convince Kurt of that.

And so they continued on, a once-jovial ship full of silent crew members, all singing ceased in the wake of the tragedy.

They were rewarded handsomely for their part in capturing the Midnight Raven, of course, but their pirating days were over if they ever wished to sail the seas without fear of capture again.

Not that, with the money they'd received, they needed to loot and plunder anymore.

And so they became privateers, mostly because Kurt had never really anything against the authorities to begin with and all they really needed to do was escort ships like the one Finn had arrived on into Port Royal safely.

Which, of course, was remarkably easy now that the greatest pirate scourge in the Spanish Main was laying at the bottom of the ocean.

So they spent a lot of time merely exploring, traveling around and doing what they would, but Kurt's first order of business once they'd gotten everything sorted had been to arrange Carole Hudson passage on a ship over from Ireland, and he'd personally told her about Finn and had seemed surprised when she'd pulled him into her arms instead of blaming him.

She had met Kurt's father and they'd gotten along remarkably well, although Blaine could see the sadness in Kurt's eyes as he watched them and knew what it was for: having her around was like having a part of Finn there, and it was both painful and comforting at the same time.

They married after only a few months, Kurt performing the ceremony himself as ship's captain, and he ended up in bed with Sam and Blaine that night, crying silently and accepting the meagre comfort they were willing to give him.

And so life went on, Kurt still not the man he once was, and Blaine wasn't sure what he could do to bring him back. He'd once thought that losing his ship would be the only thing that would break Kurt Hummel, but if that were the case at least Finn would have been there to put him back together.

The Zephyr, as wondrous as she was, didn't possess that ability, and Blaine was at a loss, fearing that he'd just have to watch his friend slip away until one day he lost all strength to go on.

And Blaine didn't think he could survive watching him that happen.

000

It was Sam who proposed the idea of going back to Christopher Hudson's memorial to give Kurt a night alone with his thoughts, and Kurt had merely shrugged apathetically, his normal response to everything these days, and as the ship had sailed away leaving him on the shore he'd shuffled his feet through the sand and knelt in front of the memorial, fingers scraping the rocks.

He thought briefly about making one for Finn as well but decided against it. Part of him still refused to believe Finn was gone, and until he saw the body…unlikely, considering where he had died, but until then Kurt would never accept it.

Leaving the memorial he kicked off his shoes and trekked across the tiny island, feeling the sand under his feet as he came out on the other side of the jungle, the beach where he and Finn had first come together in front of him as he inhaled and tried to keep his tears contained.

It didn't work.

He collapsed onto the sand, knees drawn to his chest and sobbing, and wondered how one man could affect him so deeply that his whole life had come to a stop. He was numb, cut off from anybody, and he didn't know quite how to keep living again.

Even the day itself couldn't lift his mood, and it was beautiful, he thought as he got to his feet again, wiping his eyes. It was.

The sea was a perfect blue, just darker than the cloudless sky, and the wind light enough that tiny whitecaps were present on the waves. The sand was soft and light beneath his feet, white and pristine, and he wrapped his arms around his body and tried to find some pleasure in a sight that used to be what he'd lived for.

He supposed he'd just found something else to live for, and he'd known from the beginning that it would only end in heartache although he'd tried to fight fate.

"I love you," he said to the air. "I'll never stop."

He heard the crunch of footsteps on the sand behind him but didn't turn, thinking it was just somebody from his crew who'd followed him, but when a pair of arms wrapped around his chest he felt a tiny shred of panic tear through him, the first real thing he'd felt since that day.

Although death didn't scare him anymore.

He welcomed it.

"Good," a voice whispered in his ear, low and breathless, and Kurt closed his eyes and wondered when he'd lost his mind. "Because I'll never stop loving you either, Kurt Hummel."

"Go away," Kurt said shakily, his head swinging from side-to-side.

"Kurt…"

"Leave!" he shouted, trying to break free of the phantom arms, but they held him fast. "Please, don't do this to me. Don't…" he sobbed, feeling the arms tighten.

"I'm real, love," the voice whispered. "I'm not a ghost or a spirit. I'm here," he spread his hands over Kurt's hips and Kurt gasped and tilted his head back, a pair of lips fastening there immediately and oh, God, Finn.

"Finn," he finally said, his voice barely loud enough to hear, and Finn laughed as he turned around, staring at the man in front of him and shakily reaching out to cup his cheek. "Why, hello, Kurt Hummel."

And Kurt sobbed and gripped Finn in a fierce embrace, letting the other man wrap him up and give him what he'd been missing for the last half a year. "How?" he finally managed to gasp and Finn pulled him to the sand and into his lap, hands running down Kurt's back as they stared at each other.

"Luck. I seem to have my fair share of it," Finn nodded. "I managed to jump just as the barrels exploded and must have hit my head on something, but when I awoke I was on a piece of the ship and soon enough this island came into view. I hadn't realized we were so close when we engaged them."

Kurt closed his eyes and let his cheek rest against Finn's shoulder, enjoying his voice and the way it rumbled through him. "Go on."

"Somebody else must have lived here once. There's an old cabin on the far side of the island, on a bluff overlooking the sea, and the rumrunners must have used it as a base because the cellar is full of bottles. This island seems to be on the main merchant shipping route and once the Raven was destroyed travel seemed to pick up and I can hail merchants and trade them rum for supplies and food. I've asked every ship for word of you but nobody seemed to know exactly where you were," he added and Kurt hugged him tighter, not wanting to ever let go. "I'd hoped you'd come back, one day, and when I saw the Zephyr I couldn't quite believe it."

"We're not pirates anymore," Kurt said with a sigh. "We're…we escort ships into Port Royal and get paid for it. It's that or we'd all be dead, but the authorities were willing to give us some leniency due to our part in taking care of the Raven. But we have suitable amounts of time off, and…"

"Kurt, if you're attempting to get me to travel with you, you need not ask. I may never be cut out to be a pirate, but…"

"We have a lot of time where we're doing nothing of import. We could…we could come back here. Make a home for ourselves. If you'd…"

"Yes," Finn said instantly, his brown eyes lighting up. "Yes, I'd like nothing more."

Kurt breathed out in relief, thinking that Finn wouldn't want to set foot on a ship again, and he was still reeling from the knowledge that Finn was alive and suddenly the day felt a little brighter. "I feel I should tell you: I brought your mother over."

"You…" Finn blinked rapidly. "You did that? For…"

"It was the least I could do. I also feel I should tell you that she's now married."

Finn seemed to consider this before his mouth dropped open. "No."

"I told you they'd get along," Kurt laughed, the first laugh he could remember emitting in a long, long time, and Finn finally kissed him, each of them re-learning the other as Finn laid him back in the sand, spreading his coat first so Kurt could keep his clothing clean. "This feels familiar," he said softly, reaching to trace Finn's features with his fingertips.

"It is. This beach…"

"I know. It's where we first…"

"Yes," Finn nodded, reaching into his breeches and digging out a small jar of oil as Kurt's eyes widened. "I hope I'm not being presumptuous, but I had thought…if you wished to truly mark this beach as our own…"

"Yes. Please, yes," Kurt couldn't quite believe it, throat tight, and Finn leaned to brush his lips again. "I love you, Finnegan Hudson."

"I love you as well, Kurt Hummel," he replied with his normal sunny grin, and Kurt felt a burning desire spread through him that he feared he'd never feel again. He reached to grip Finn's hair, pulling his head down.

"Then make love to me."

And so Finn did.

Notes:

1. And that's all she wrote! I hope you all enjoyed this fic and thank you all so much for the kind words and reviews! It was so fun to write and really, you didn't think I'd actually let Finn *die*, did you?

2. I shall try to get a .pdf of this set up for people who want to download the whole thing, and I'll post it on my LJ and link to it from tumblr so people can find it :D

3. Let me know what you thought of this! I've got another chaptered fic in the works from a prompt from a-darkness-comes-at-dawn on tumblr about a situation flip for Finn and Kurt: ie, Finn being the gay kid and Kurt being the popular football player, so I'm planning that out. Plus I've still got my other two fics. :D