Author's Note: Love you, guys. Love you to Mars and back =)

Chapter Seventeen

Forever

Kurt

It literally felt like I took a jagged rock, tore into my own skin, cracked my ribs, and pulled out my own heart. If I'd get over Blaine, I would need to start somewhere. So, I choose now. I need to think about Finn anyhow.

Looking up at the sun, I realized that his trial was about to begin. Kicking hard with my tailfin, I shun through the water. Soon, I was pushing through the door of my father's previous office. A dozen heads spun to watch my entrance. Awkwardly, I maneuvered inside.

Finn and I exchanged a small, sad smile.

"Right, so, how does this work, exactly?" I asked, sitting at the desk.

An older Mer swished forward. "Well, we'll present you all the allegations, let the criminal speak," Finn flinched at the harsh word, "give you our verdicts, and then you give yours."

I bit my lip. "Why didn't I have a trial like this? Just wondering…"

"You did," another Mer answered. "It was less formal though. You presented your case, your father gave the verdict, and we all agreed."

I tried to rack my brains in an attempt to remember that. I couldn't. That's probably because I was an eight year old who just lost his mother. Attempting to not roll my eyes at them, I nodded.

"Right. So, go on," I urged.

"The accused," the old Mer started, motioning to Finn, "Finn Hudson. Charged for freeing a human-born Mer, which is strictly against Mer-Code."

The other Mer looked at Finn, saying, "Do you deny these claims, Mr. Hudson?"

Finn looked down. "I do not."

"So the council's decisions?" the old Mer asked. "Guilty."

"Guilty."

"Guilty."

"Guilty."

"Guilty."

"Guilty."

The streak continued. I didn't hear one "not."

"Mr. Hummel?"

"No, not guilty," I said, hearing how thick my voice was with shock.

The room arose in murmurs.

The old Mer rose a hand to quiet them. "I see. Well, we have a problem, I suppose. However, according to official code, the only way the ruler's decision can be overthrown is if the council's verdict is unanimous."

My jaw dropped. What?

"No…no, that's not-" I stammered.

"We will escort Mr. Hudson out then," the old Mer spoke, clasping Finn's arm tight.

"Hold on!" I yelled. Everyone froze. "No, you can't! Finn didn't even do anything wrong! Rachel didn't want to be here. We were imprisoning her!"

"Mer-Code…"

"SCREW THE MER-CODE!" I shouted. "The Mer-Code exiled your current ruler. Your system is flawed!"

"Treason!" a Mer amongst the crowd yelped.

"No, you brainless moron, you're all just blind and naïve! Ugh!"

I shot forward and grabbed Finn away from the rest, pulling him towards the desk.

"He isn't going anywhere!" I declared.

The Mer's all looked at each other for a second. Without much else of a thought, a few swam forward to push me away and take hold of Finn. They were about to leave, but stalled when I continued.

I spat, "You want treason? Then listen!"

No one in the room made any efforts to move. All eyes were fixed on me.

"I agreed to free Rachel! I helped her surface! I held her down and forced her tailfin to disappear! And you know what else I did? I set Blaine free, said my goodbyes to him as he went back onto land. If anyone is guilty, it's me!"

All the faces in the room were similar. They were shocked. Most were disgusted and shocked; Finn was impressed and shocked. Suddenly, I knew what was going to happen before it did.

As twelve pairs of hands went to grab me, I flipped over their heads, grabbing Finn as I fled to the door.

Over my shoulder, as the small crowd chased after us, I shouted, "I exile myself. Anyone opposed?" then waited for a second before continuing, "Didn't think so!"

Finn and I swam in the opposite direction as Blaine's shore.

"Where are we going?" he eventually asked.

"Away from the Undersea and far away from Blaine," I retorted, swimming even harder. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I knew you wouldn't have much say. You didn't have to exile yourself, Kurt."

I gave a bitter chuckle. "The Undersea is a joke. It wouldn't have ever been my home."

"Our parents…"

"Have each other," I said, exchanging a smile with Finn. He nodded solemnly.

"What now?"

I took a second to start thinking of the answer. Soon, I replied, "We live our lives."

Blaine

Before letting the idea of Kurt being gone sink in, I found myself at Rachel's door. I rang the doorbell, fidgeting as I waited. Soon enough, she pulled the door open.

"Blaine?" she questioned.

"Let's start looking at colleges," I blurted, pushing past her. I immediately went to her room.

"Whoa, whoa, Blaine! You were just a Mer yesterday. I need details. What happened?" she said.

I grabbed her laptop and sat on her bed.

"If I give you details, I'll be thinking about him, and I can't. Not now, Rachel. Not yet," I pleaded. "Let's just research colleges, okay?"

She sadly smiled, but nonetheless pulled out her thick stack of college brochures from inside her desk.

"Already ahead of you."

I took the stack and flipped through them. Frowning, I said, "Now, I'm going to research colleges on the East Coast."

When I pushed the laptop open, Rachel pressed it shut.

"Rachel, I'm moving far, far, far away, especially now."

"UCLA is like…6 hours from here, that's not far enough? You were all for going to school there with me up until your dad troubles started. Being across the country won't fix those problems, Blaine. It'll just make you far away."

"We were like ten at the time," I noted.

"So you know it's not a rash decision. Blaine, I'm not saying this because the distance would be awful, well, that's part of it, but I just think we need each other – especially now."

I broke eye contact and looked at the brochure on the top of the pile. If I actually get accepted to UCLA, that'd be an honor, thinking about it seriously. It's not an easy school to get in to.

"If we both get in, I'll go. If one of us doesn't, be have to think about plan B."

Rachel threw me a questioning look. "Plan B?"

"New York!"

Rachel giggled. "If you're serious about this, Blaine, I'll seriously consider it."

I took Rachel's hand. "You're right. We do need each other."

Kurt's name flickered through my brain, but I pushed it away the second it formed. Thank you, Rachel.

One Year Later – Blaine

"Just think! In a little over two months, we'll be at UCLA!" Rachel said, practically jumping; no, she was jumping.

I looked out the Fish Shop's huge window. Not a soul, as always.

"We still have to figure out how we're living there. I don't understand why you didn't just want to dorm," I laughed, leaning over the counter.

"Girls are caddy. We should try to find two nice gay boys to live with. Actually, one can be straight," Rachel said smugly. "You can't have all the fun."

I threw ice at her. "But this weekend we're definitely taking that road trip, right? We have to start applying for jobs or we'll be living in the quad on school grounds in a cardboard box."

"That might be cheaper," Rachel said, "but don't even worry. I have a hefty college fund if anything goes wrong."

"Maybe if I sold the Fish Shop that'd be my share of the first month's rent."

"No, no, you love this place!" Rachel smiled.

"I still wish my dad would turn it into a surf shop," I muttered.

"Just a few more months, Blaine, and we'll be free!"

I smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. She gripped my hand.

"Any plans for after work?" Rachel questioned, pulling herself onto the counter.

"I was thinking maybe I could make use of my graduation present."

"Right, you haven't played the guitar in like a year. Since…since it broke."

"Since I smashed it off some crazy Mer's? Yes, it's been a while."

Rachel looked uncomfortable. "Blaine…"

"Oh, Rachel, it's been a year," I said with an encouraging smile.

"You're right, I'm being silly. Take me home?"

I nodded, and we did the routine of closing shop.

A year had gone by. The entirety of our senior year had passed. Prom. Graduation. They all seemed like distance memories. Rachel and I were joined at the hip for most of it; we basically had all the same classes, the same lunch, our lockers were a few lockers apart (when her crap wasn't already lodged into mine). Being a senior was really great - aside from the senioritous.

I still worked at the fish shop, and my relationship with my father wasn't any better. What happened last summer was completely ignored. It was ignored by everyone, actually. Rachel never brought it up. My dad pretended Mer's were fairytales. As for me, the memories of Kurt were vivid.

He'd always be real to me.

As I drove Rachel home, my guitar sat in the trunk. I was about to offer her a ride, but she beat me to it. I wanted to make sure she was home when I went to the shore.

I hadn't been there in over a year. I promised myself that I wouldn't torture myself and wait for Kurt, just hoping that somehow, someday, he'd pop up, just to say hi. Today was the first day of summer, and I felt like I owed the dock one last visit before I went on with my life.

The sand and the wood of the pier felt all too familiar. Sitting at the edge, I pulled my guitar out. I hugged it and just sat.

"I miss you, Kurt. I miss you a lot more than I let myself believe," I said out loud. I strummed at my guitar absentmindedly, playing a nothing tune. "This is for you, okay?"

Taking in a breath, I played Part of Your World. This was the first song he must have heard me play when we were kids. This is the song that made him show himself last summer. I smiled, forcing myself not to be sad because the pier was like a safe haven for me. I always had someone who cared to watch over me. It was my escape.

"Wish I could be part of your world."

I ended the song and steadied my breathing. I let myself gaze into the water. Kurt wasn't there. I didn't expect him to be, but my heart sunk anyhow.

"You're my forever too, Kurt," I mumbled, packing my guitar away.

Without too much disappointment, I clicked the case close. I needed to go because this was too much for me. I shouldn't have come. I was being stupid.

As I went lifted myself up, I lost my balance. With a gasp of fear, I splashed into the water. When I was under, I opened my eyes. The salt never ceased to burn. My hopeless heart wished to see Kurt's pale face and blue-green eyes staring back at me. They weren't though.

He wasn't coming back. Why was I doing this to myself?

Out of no where, I realized something. I lost my balance on something. A chill went up my spine. Someone had been on the dock with me. I immediately surfaced.

"I thought you drowned," a voice said nonchalant. "I almost went after you, but that would have killed the shock factor I was going for."

My blurry eyes focused.

Standing above me was Kurt.

Yeah, that's what I said.

"Kurt, you're…you're…"

"Not a fish. Yes. Not a fish. Feet suck though, not gonna lie. Finn and I've been walking around for like eight hours straight, trying to adjust. The locals were staring."

"Kurt, why?"

I propped myself up on the dock, most of my body still in the water. He kneeled over me. This was familiar.

"Because I've always chosen you. It just took me a while to realize that I choose all of this too."

"Shut up."

I smiled and pulled myself up until our lips meet.

Forever sounded really, really good to me.

The End.

Yay yay yay yay! I hope you enjoyed it! I hope you liked the ending. Kurt and Blaine needed to be together; there wasn't a doubt in my mind about that, ever! =) Thank you all!

So, as a last note, I'm going to plug my new Klaine story, "I Do, I Think." It's quite different from this – wedding-esk story. Maybe you'll like it! =D Go read the summary on my page!