(BL) Taming the Field Guide

"To answer your previous question," Kellen began, "while I can’t see out of my eye, that doesn’t mean that it’s lost all of its function. It’s relatively new that it glows when my other eye glows. It’s only started in the last few weeks." Kellen said. "It’s as normal as it can be, given that it was a strange poison that sunk into my blood and body, but it’s getting better. It’s more like an attached flashlight than a functional eye right now." Kellen told them. The dirty blonde laughed, the regular blonde smiled and relaxed, and the other three stared at Kellen and Rhys.

Rhys released her wrist, stepping back with ease. There were no marks on her wrist, no sign that Rhys had grabbed her too tightly. Kellen knew that was going to be the case. The man, the Captain, had rescued Guides personally, made them feel safe and loved and welcomed. Kellen and the others had filled in the gaps left behind by Rhys and Gunther and Charlie.

These people didn’t know that about Rhys, and Kellen, feeling like he needed to protect both Rhys and the Guides before him, meant that Kellen had to sigh heavily and gather everyone’s attention.

"Rhys would never harm her." Kellen said carefully. "I know that I’m biased, and that from your personal experience that you can’t trust him, and that there was a point when Rhys could have been like the others." Kellen said, not looking at Rhys as he continued. "However, we haven’t spoken about this yet, but I know that we will." Kellen said. He cleared his throat, his muscles tensing.

Even though some of the S Classes were...different, they could tell that whatever Kellen was going to say was serious. A few of them perked up, watching him. Even the Espers around them began to tense.

"We might not have completely illuminated the E.A.G. in our town, but we did deal them a significant blow after they tried to kill my Dad." Kellen began. He hated talking about it. He knew he needed to, but he just hated that he could still feel the terror in his bones, the chilling fear that had filled him during the mere seconds that his Dad’s lifeblood had poured out of him from his neck wound. "One of our Lieutenants went undercover. He’s fine now, but they did catch on that he wasn’t fully on their side. He was imprisoned."

"Why didn’t they kill him?" The brunette asked and Kellen shook his head. He didn’t know that, and he hadn’t heard the reports yet from Sakura. He had no idea what kind of information they had gotten from the Lieutenant they had captured.

"I’m not sure. I haven’t gone over the records yet of the interrogation of those we caught instead of killed." Kellen told them bluntly. The blonde let out a horrified gasp, but Kellen could see it in her eyes. The anger. It was reflected in all of their eyes so Kellen continued. "Rhys was the person who spearheaded the rescue mission, with Esper Sergei upstairs helping him as well. Our third major S Class was keeping low so as to not draw attention, but she was quietly preparing the spot where we were going to keep those who were caught." Kellen said. "The biggest thing was that...we were unaware of what and who the E.A.G. were keeping." Kellen said grimly. "Children and others, but mostly children Guides." Horrified gasps from around the room.

Everyone here knew that Guides normally manifested when you were older. Not quite out of childhood, but children were normally allowed some time to be kids. To grow, and play, before the seriousness of the world pressed down on them and forced them to participate. Even then, they normally just attended school to learn how to use their powers safely, for the betterment of society, that kind of thing.

They were still allowed to be kids.

The S Classes before him, however, might not have had that same experience. They hadn’t jumped Classes like Kellen had, they had been born as S Classes, awakened as S Classes, and had thus been treated as S Classes their whole lives. Now was not the time to ask how they had been treated as kids, but from the anger at even hearing that children had been found when they had raided an E.A.G. facility, Kellen knew that there were some lines that no one crossed.

Even the anger, pure and bright on the Esper’s faces around him, told him that they agreed with it too.

"How old?" The dirty blonde asked. There was a growl in her voice, and Kellen saw that all of the S Class Guides were slightly leaning forward, rage etched onto their features. Kellen took a deep breath for everyone around him.

"The youngest was 9, I think, and awakened." Kellen told them. He shook his head sadly. "They’re all fine, but..." Kellen hesitated. "They’re creating them. The Guides. The E.A.G. has gotten their hands on a way to create Guides and the worst of it all, they’ve been doing this for a while." Something fell to the ground and the room became chaotic. The Guides who had been listening in on Kellen speak to the S Classes were greatly impacted.

When Kellen turned, he found that someone had fainted, and that several other Guides were only seconds from doing so. Kellen didn’t think that this information was that shocking, but apparently it was.

Maybe it was because he’d had all of this information revealed to him one piece at a time, or he had gotten a heartier heart because of his years on the front lines. Either way, Kellen’s body was tense, willing to go and help, but their Espers were there, helping their Guides.

"Rhys, go grab Sergei. He can help. He has my bin." Kellen ordered and Rhys went off, darting to the edge of the room where the door was. It was only seconds later that Sergei was entering, handing out unwrapped snacks to help the Guides. Espers stiffened, but Rhys smoothed everything over by showing Sergei’s mark on his throat.

Clearly made by someone possessive, and that seemed to relax the Espers. Kellen realised that they had it handled and turned back to the emotional S Classes. The blonde was crying, as was the brunette. The black braid and the dirty blonde looked like they were vibrating with anger and the burnt Guide was watching Kellen, Rhys and the chaos of the room. When their gaze came back to Kellen, it was filled with a burning passion that had Kellen sitting up a little taller.

"They are safe?" They rasped and Kellen nodded.

"Yes. They’re tucked away, getting cared for. They’re slowly opening up, laughing, enjoying themselves. They’re with us. Protected." Kellen told them, and then he sighed. "The problem of it all is that...there are two S Classes among them, and my gut feeling which normally isn’t wrong, is that there are more S Classes out there that they’ve created." Kellen told them. Another gasp of horror, and Kellen only stared in the burnt Guide’s eyes.

Kellen could feel their anger coming off of them in waves.

"They were wiped out? From your city?" They asked and Kellen felt his chest tighten.

"They’re all dead, at least the ones we can get our hands on, and I’ve made it very fucking clear that anyone who agrees with them is on my shit list. I will not tolerate them. I will not let them live. Anyone who harms my family is dead to me." Kellen sniffed. "I have more compassion for those who felt like they had nowhere else to go, but that doesn’t mean that I forgive them all." Kellen said. "It’s one of the reasons that I’m here, and why I will stay here and can’t participate in the information gathering. I’m here to clean house." Kellen told them.

A slow, delighted smile crossed their lips.

"Good. It was the E.A.G. who left me like this." They said. Kellen felt his body sway as a wave of anger rushed him. Kellen sucked in, overcome with rage. His body trembled, his knees locked, and everything inside of Kellen screamed that he needed to find them and punish those who had hurt them.

The soft, warm chuckle that came from the Guide on their nest brought Kellen back sharply. He trembled, turning his gaze towards them. Their eyes had softened as they watched Kellen’s whole body go stiff, his skin go pale and a rage filled him that was too close to insanity to be normal.

"You’re a good man, Guide Kellen." They said and Kellen swallowed.

"This is the bare minimum." Kellen told them. "All of my family taught me that." He said, meaning it. His Aunts and Uncles would kill for their loved ones, had killed for their loved ones. Kellen didn’t need to ask his Mom to know if she had for Dad, and his Dad?

He just didn’t get his hands dirty, that was all. His hands were for his children and family. The others didn’t deserve his own hands. Kellen exhaled slowly, trying to find his sense of reason, but it was hard. Hearing that they had hurt them this way was just...horrifying.

"Why haven’t you gotten healed?" Kellen asked and they gave a bitter smile.

"It would cost an arm and a leg." They said and Kellen’s nostrils flared with anger. They laughed out loud instead of just the small chuckles they had been doing. It ended up with them coughing and Kellen moved forward, trying to help them but Kellen wasn’t a healer. Frustration filled him as he watched them suffer. "I’m joking." They said, once they had stopped that awful sound. "I just...took the bare minimum until I saw the eyes of the person who did this to me on a spike." Kellen nodded.

"Do you have a picture?" Kellen asked, no hesitation. They blinked.

"Are you planning to handle it?" They asked and Kellen leveled them with a serious gaze.

"Am I going to handle it?" Kellen repeated, before a slow, dangerous smile crossed his lips. "Dear fellow S Classes, the only reason I wasn’t there at the rescue mission was because my arm was in a sling and my Healer would have knocked me out if I didn’t behave myself. They can’t stop me anymore. They can’t hold me back from helping. My hope is to have a third of the E.A.G. destroyed before I go back home because my sister woke up. Whether that’s because I converted them back to the right side, helped their issues, or executed them is up to them." Kellen said, no joke in his voice.

"And your Esper said that was okay?" The braided S Class asked and Kellen snorted.

"He’ll be with me every step of the way. They almost took his best friend’s arm, and almost killed my father. They are Rhys’ family because they are my family. They continue to keep trying to mess with us because they know we’re a threat. They just don’t seem to understand that we have Rhys and other secret weapons to deal with them. They have been allowed to continue like this for too long, and I won’t let them continue. Not when I have the authority and the power to do something about it anymore." Kellen declared.

Kellen listened to Rhys and Sergei move through the room, whispering to others, handing over snacks. Calming, soothing, being the kind of men that Kellen knew them to be in their own city.

"You have a good group of people in your city, Guide Kellen." The brunette said, staring at the others before sliding her gaze to Kellen. "A wonderful group. We’ll try to help as much as we can, but our powers are limited." Kellen didn’t think that she was the leader of the group, but as soon as she spoke, the others nodded.

This felt more like they had all come to the conclusion and were agreeing out loud as a unit. Kellen took their words for what they were. A declaration of help from those who meant it. He nodded, his giving a small bow of appreciation towards them.

"Thank you. Anything you can provide will be perfect." He hesitated. "In fact, information on what it’s like to live as an S Class Guide would be a great way to start. I’m not the only one who is coming to terms with what that means." He wanted to tell them about Charlie, he really did, but something kept him from saying his name out loud. He didn’t have to. They all smiled, the fire in their blue eyes, and nodded.

"We’d love to. At the next break let’s exchange ways to contact each other. It’s time for you to go back upstairs, Guide Kellen." The burnt Guide rasped.