(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 445: Where’s waldo?

"R-Rhys." Kellen said, and he was there. He was at Kellen’s side, his arm around his waist. He was leaning in, supporting, making sure he was okay. Kellen tried not to tear up, to cry at how easily this man was by his side. He had so many things to do, things he needed to manage, but he was here. With Kellen. At his side.

"Yes? What do you need?" Rhys asked. Kellen swallowed.

"I need to see the recording." Kellen told him. "And then I need to know what is happening right now." Rhys looked at him, before he nodded. Rhys turned to Casper.

"Casper, can you check in with Lieutenant Fisher and see if he was able to make contact with the front lines again?" Casper nodded, grabbing his phone and searching through his contacts. Rhys took Kellen’s hand and began to lead him out of the room. Kellen glanced around him, behind him, to make sure that everyone else was okay.

Charlie, after receiving his orders, was already at work and keeping an eye on Kellen’s parents. Kellen’s Mom was a mess of emotions, but she wasn’t crying. It looked as if every fiber in her body was tense, her eyes were such a bright purple they hurt to look at. Whatever she had been doing before this? She was clearly regretting it, but she was pushing her emotions aside.

She was too busy trying to keep Kellen’s Dad together.

Kellen’s Dad, who had been a wreck before, was even worse now. Whatever parts of himself that he had gathered to attend the funeral were all gone now. He was ugly sobbing, tears and snot rolling down his face. It hurt listening to him. It was heartbreaking. Kellen felt like his Dad was crying as if she was already lost.

Kellen didn’t go to them.

Not because he didn’t want to comfort them, but because he knew that if he did, he would be a mess. He wouldn’t get more information the way that he wanted to. He would be back at the damn garbage bin, unmoving, frozen. That wasn’t what Kellen wanted.

He wanted to make sure he knew what was going on. He wanted to know with his own eyes what had happened. What was actually going on and who was at risk for a further issue on the front lines.

Kellen needed to get his head wrapped around the situation, get out of the shock that he was feeling and actually step up. She wasn’t gone yet. There was no reason to act like his Dad yet. Rhys was right. They had made sure that they had suits on. He was sure, once he confirmed things with the others that he would find out that they were prepared.

His students, his people wouldn’t be underprepared.

Rhys dragged him by the hand into the chaos that was the main conference room that they had been using the whole time. Everyone was pale faced, looking shocked. Pamela looked like she was going to faint at any moment.

"Lieutenant Fisher has been trying every five minutes since it happened to get contact." Casper told them as they stepped into the room.

"We’ve been doing the same." Someone from the room said, confirming what Rhys or Kellen was going to ask before it was said. Rhys was tugging Kellen towards the large screen in the back.

"Thank you everyone. For bouncing back so quickly when such a tragic thing has happened. Have we continued tracking the monster’s movements?" Rhys asked and someone responded.

"Yes. They appear to be in the camps. From the outside trackers we have, we know that they have made contact with the front lines, but we don’t have more information than that." Someone said. "We do know that there was a dragonoid, whether that was a drake or something else, we can’t confirm until we get a connection with the front lines again." Rhys squeezed Kellen, pulling him towards the screen and then stopping him. Kellen heard Rhys swallowed.

"Alright. Keep monitoring the situation as you can. I’m going to take a moment to step away and see if I notice anything else. Kellen would...like to see a playback." Rhys said and the room held their breaths. Kellen could feel the tension rise, and that told him it was bad.

Kellen braced himself.

"Sounds good, Captain. I’ll get that ready." Someone spoke nearby, their voice shaky, but their intentions firm. Kellen turned to Rhys.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kellen asked softly and Rhys stared at Kellen, surprised that he had asked that.

"Babe, please don’t worry about me right now. I...I know that as a Guide you might not be able to help it, but please. Please just focus on yourself right now." Rhys told him and Kellen felt his throat tighten. He fought tears. He dropped his head, nodding in response and Rhys bent, pressing his lips against his forehead. "I’ll be back. I’m sure Casper will stay by your side. Don’t be afraid to ask Peter, the man in charge of the recording, to play it as much as you want." Rhys told him and Kellen nodded.

Rhys left, and Kellen really wanted a kiss. Until he remembered that he’d been throwing up and decided he wasn’t going to do that to the other man. That didn’t mean he was able to keep his eyes off of the man as he was leaving the room for somewhere a little more private to use his powers.

"Guide Woods? Are you ready?" Peter asked carefully and Kellen sniffed, rubbing his face with his hands, trying to gather himself before he nodded.

"I’m ready." Kellen confirmed, sure beyond doubt that he was not ready for whatever he was about to witness.

Kellen was sure that this playback function was only supposed to be used for completely benign reasons, or that Rhys wasn’t supposed to be recording things at all. There were only two options, but he was sure that the others were happy that the Saturn Guild had done it.

Kellen listened to what was clearly a meeting of some kind. It was the familiar scene of Sergei and the others in the frames, and Peter did something so that suddenly it was just Sergei’s view on the screen, blowing it up into terrifying clarity.

Kellen was listening to Sergei talk, but he was also trying to listen, to hear if he could understand that there was something amiss. Sergei was talking about the protections that they had put into place for the monsters when he heard it.

A very quiet, very subtle ’pop!’. It had every hair on Kellen’s body standing on end.

"Peter, can you play that back?" Kellen asked and Peter glanced at him. Casper was also looking at him. freeweɓnøvel~com

"What did you hear?" Casper asked, a few of the others perking up as they realised that Kellen had picked up on something. Kellen frowned.

"I think I heard a popping noise." Kellen said and Casper swallowed, pushing up his glasses. He looked confused, just as confused as Kellen felt.

"A popping noise? Alright. I’ll try to see if I can hear it too." Casper said and Peter rolled it back. Kellen and Casper stood there, listening, and Kellen watched as Casper heard it too. A look crossed his face, and because Kellen had stopped it before it had played all the way through before, he hadn’t realised what happened immediately after.

A wicked wind slammed through the tent, dust, grime and everything else flying into the air as it looked like an explosion went off before the same dust was sucked back the way that it came. Kellen watched in horror as Sergei’s eyes changed colour before his very eyes, the sound cut out and a ring of power radiated out from Sergei. The tent flew away, tearing out of the ground and that was when Kellen caught a glimpse of the terror that was happening.

"Pause it!" Kellen shouted, and the image stilled.

Kellen scanned the area. It felt like a fucked up where’s waldo scene. Dust was in the air, everyone had horrified looks on their faces. The tent was in the air, almost looking like it had been added in with little afterthought, but Kellen had just seen the previous few seconds. He knew what was going on.

Scanning the area, he was able to pick out who people were by the colour of their outfits, and there were a disproportionate amount of Saturn Guild members over here. A large swath of them were in Field Guide uniforms, and Kellen felt his stomach drop out.

Kellen spotted a few of the Espers, all of them looked horrified except...except his little sister.

She looked grim, resigned, as she raced towards the others. He could tell she was doing so. Her arms were up as if she was running, her eyes purple and glowing even as the wind whipped around. Kellen felt a mixture of pride and pure fear as he realised she was running towards his Guides.

Fuck.

She had probably been far enough away that she could have been safe. But she had put herself back into danger. Kellen scanned the group, noticing how other Espers were shouting, grabbing civilians. Kellen wondered how many people had been sucked in. What had actually happened. Rhys had just told him that the gate had exploded, but Kellen didn’t think that was what happened.

"You can press play again." Kellen told him, and Peter did so. The images moved, and it was Kellen’s worst fears confirmed as he watched Gwen dive for a few Field Guides, trying to get them away from the source of the suction, but it was too late.

Kellen, and everyone else watched in horror as about 20 people were sucked into the gate. The pulsing, purple gate that reminded Kellen of his sister. The film cut off, and Kellen wondered if that was when the equipment was sucked in.

Kellen wanted to throw up.

He crouched down, wrapping his arms around his head and Casper crouched down next to him.

"Are you okay, Kellen?" Casper asked softly and Kellen didn’t respond. He was busy controlling his breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. He did that over and over until finally, he stood up again and looked at Casper.

Casper looked ill, tired, exhausted, but also resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to be getting any sleep tonight. Kellen nodded.

"I will be." Kellen said grimly. He turned to Peter. "Play it again, but I want to see all of it without pausing." Kellen told him and Peter went back and played it again. And again. And again until Kellen couldn’t watch it anymore.

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