(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Kellen knew that the person who was going to be the most upset about what happened to him wouldn’t be him. It probably wouldn’t even be Rhys. He did not expect, however, that the person would be his Mom.

Not because he didn’t love his Mom, not at all, he just thought that Brent or his Dad might make a bigger deal of it. He forgot for a second that he was his Mom’s precious Guide Son, and that the person who had harmed him was an older woman with similar powers to her.

So all of that was to say that he didn’t see the right hook coming for the woman in enough time to stop her, nor was Rhys going to step in and freeze time so that she didn’t land the hit.

Sergei didn’t even flinch, and Elder Ellis just closed his eyes and sighed.

Kellen was fine. After he’d had his panic attack and cried out his fears and got some reassurance from Rhys, he felt better. Add in the time to travel back to the city, he’d had time to really hear what Rhys had told him and he believed what Rhys had told him. Rhys was his elder when it came to his powers, and while it was becoming clear that their powers didn’t work in the exact same way, Rhys didn’t seem bothered by their development as a whole. He was just bothered that Kellen’s powers were growing at all.

That was fair enough, given he was pretty much the only sane Esper with his powers. Then again, he could reset himself. Kellen was a Guide, so maybe that would offset the crazy bug that all Time Espers got bitten by. Kellen could hope, and he knew that Rhys was betting on that hope.

The only person who didn’t seem to see that they were going to get hit was the Esper herself. Which was funny, because it wasn’t like his Mom was hiding her anger. She made it very known as she was told what had happened.

She’d barely stayed seated through the explanation before she was up and swinging. His Dad was clapping. Kellen really shouldn’t have expected better from his parents, especially when Brent’s face was full of delight at the violence.

Even the other S Class Espers who had joined them were smiling, like this was the right thing to do. It was going to have to be Kellen who stepped in and stopped her.

"Mom." Kellen spoke calmly but loud enough that she could hear him. She jerked her head towards her son, her eyes glowing purple with her rage. "Enough. I already shot her. We need her to be able to speak and with how much you are aiming for her face, she won’t be able to do that." Kellen warned. His Mom scoffed, rolling her shoulders as Kellen’s Dad smiled serenely. Too serenely.

"Sweetheart." His Dad began, "just let your Mom have some fun, hmm? A few more hits won’t matter. She’s doing it for me." He tried to reason with Kellen, but while this was a new situation for Kellen, he wasn’t a fool. Kellen rolled his eye before leveling his father with a serious gaze.

"No. Uncle Vance is already reluctant to heal her, I can tell, and the Healers wouldn’t touch her at the tower. I’m not going to let you do it before we get answers and speak to her Guild." Kellen told him, putting his foot down. He swore his Dad was going to force tears, which would make Kellen cave, but he backed down with a heavy sigh.

"You’re making this hard on me." His father protested and Kellen snorted.

"Think about how I felt? I almost got away without shooting anyone today. I was on my best behaviour and then someone sneaks up on us on top of the tower. I’m pissed, but now is not the time to take it out. Not yet." Kellen told them. That seemed to settle them both, but they were officially calmed when Kellen went to them both and gave them a hug. His Mom in particular was worked up.

"I can’t believe one of my own did this." She muttered, disgusted. Kellen couldn’t exactly relate, but he could try. If he thought about how some Field Guides were useless and only Field Guides in name...yeah, that would also get him worked up.

The woman, in her defense, wasn’t putting up much of a fight. As soon as she had been shot and Elder Ellis had taken her aside and spoken to her with a few witnesses, she’d settled down. It was like she was resigned to her fate or something, and since Elder Ellis came with them, it wasn’t like they couldn’t learn what he said to her.

However, a few things came before that.

Kellen didn’t really want to hear her excuses. He wasn’t out looking for revenge. As far as he could tell, this was an incident separate from the E.A.G. and instead was a personal reason. He knew that she was unwell, that she wasn’t doing okay, so while he didn’t justify what had happened, he had a pretty good idea he knew what was going on.

That didn’t mean he excused her behaviour, it just meant he had no interest in it. It was clear that Rhys did, and so did his parents, but Kellen had other issues he wanted to deal with. Like making sure the Espers that they had brought back with them knew about the plan that they had for Brent’s press conference and what Kellen was asking of them.

Aunt Dina had laughed when Kellen had asked if he needed to be here when they questioned her. His parents had looked shocked at his lack of interest, but it was Brent and Rhys who had blinked once, twice, and then shook their heads and sighed in unison.

Yup, that was Kellen alright.

Rhys only let Kellen go after he gave him a kiss, which Kellen had no problem doing. Sergei decided that the Woods and the son-in-law could handle the punishment part of this, and got up to go with Kellen and Brent. The Espers who hadn’t met Brent until this point didn’t understand, but Kellen just smiled.

He hoped that Brent understood how much Sergei had defended him and bragged about him as much as an Esper like him could. Kellen would tell him about it when they weren’t busy discussing the next steps.

Elder Ellis watched Brent, seeming to see the core of it all, and gave a small smile when Brent met his gaze. Brent narrowed his own, slipping his arm around Kellen’s shoulder and pulling him close. Sergei shuffled closer to Brent as well. Not in front, but more to the side and behind. He was acting as Brent and Kellen’s protective shadow, and Kellen felt his lips curl up slightly.

"Fine. Go off and do what you want. I can see we can’t convince you to stay." Aunt Dina said, a soft smile of her own on her lips. "Just don’t have too much fun without us, alright?" She joked. "Take Jeff with you too. One of the adults needs to be in the room." She was teasing them, especially as Uncle Parker placed a hand over his heart looking like he was deeply hurt.

"Am I getting that old? I’m a kid at heart, Dina." He protested, bringing some light to the heavy situation. She smiled, rolling her eyes as she glanced between Kellen, Brent, and her Lieutenant. Uncle Parker was just putting on a show since he easily led the others to another room, away from the large room that they were already in.

He also took charge of explaining the situation to the others in more detail. After all, Sergei and Rhys had been the ones to recruit the Espers, but it was Uncle Parker and Brent’s job to convince them to help. It was made easier since Kellen had already explained how Brent came to be so they already had sympathy for him before they found out for certain who he was.

They had all assumed who the family was, because unlike Kellen, they paid attention to the news outside of gates and new papers about things involving gates. It was made clearer when they saw Brent in person, but Brent took the time to actually explain everything to them, and how he came to be.

He also explained how he came to be, and why it was such a controversy that he was born. Kellen had heard it before, but it also seemed to be a bit of a relief for Brent to say it out loud to others, and for them to believe him.

Kellen let Brent speak, watching him and watching how the room reacted to his words. Brent explained everything, including who was most likely to hurt him and why. It wasn’t anything noble, it was just that he followed his brother’s orders without question. He had since they were kids, and had continued to do so after he’d severely injured Brent and then had to bring him back.

All to teach Brent a lesson. The only lesson that Brent learned was to get out of his family’s way, and it was his grandfather who brought him back in. Brent didn’t sound as bitter as he should have when he spoke of his grandfather. At least not in Kellen’s mind.

Kellen sat and listened to Brent explain everything, including the little details he hadn’t known about but that Brent had learned in the time that he had been in his hometown. Kellen would be pissed at his grandfather, or even his parents if they had done half of the shit that his grandfather had. His grandfather had owed Brent more than just the arms that he kept giving him, but it was Brent’s own personal history and Kellen would respect his wishes.

Especially when he wasn’t forgiving his brother who was trying to kill him. Who had attempted to kill him several times.

By the end of Brent’s explanation, none of the Espers were pulling out of helping him. They were all determined to put Brent’s brother in his place, especially since it felt like doing so would be the first blow that they would be able to deal to the E.A.G. on what felt like their own soil. Kellen couldn’t agree more.

Brent’s eyes glowed blue at the mention of the E.A.G. and Brent admitted that the Chronos Guild was heavily influenced by the E.A.G. They didn’t appear to be all bad, but that didn’t excuse their actions. They did appear that they might help them with their concerns about the lower research levels under the Chronos Guild if they appeared they would get something in return. Maybe lesser sentences.

They were just beginning to discuss the press conference in earnest when the others knocked on the door and Rhys swooped in, pressing a kiss against Kellen’s cheek like he’d been away for days, not only a few hours.

Kellen’s parents when they came in looked...refreshed, while Aunt Dina had a pleased smile on her face. Elder Ellis looked drained as he came in behind them.

Kellen only wondered for a second what had happened in the room after they had left, before turning his attention back to the task at hand.