(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 446: Not the time for jokes

Kellen shifted when he heard the door open, and felt that it was Rhys entering the room long before the hand landed on his waist.

"How is it?" Rhys’ voice was low, his chin brushing Kellen’s shoulder as he leaned in. Kellen sighed.

"Awful." Kellen admitted and Rhys let out a dry laugh.

You’re right there." Rhys agreed, wrapping his hand more firmly around Kellen’s waist and Kellen appreciated the comfort.

"Were you able to get any more information?" Kellen asked and Rhys made a grumbling noise.

"Not anything I think is useful. I can probably say that the monster attack is over. They fled when the gate exploded." Rhys said and Kellen exhaled slowly. He didn’t really agree with what Rhys said, and Rhys could tell. "What? Did you?" Rhys asked, and Kellen turned his head, meeting his gaze.

"No. I didn’t. But what I saw in the recordings didn’t look like a gate explosion. Especially not of a poison gate." Kellen told him calmly. He hoped that he at least sounded calm, because he didn’t feel it. Casper had found a chair and was sitting down in it while he typed on his phone.

"You didn’t mention that to me." Casper said, glancing up at the couple. Kellen winced.

"Sorry. I think I meant to, but I just..." Casper grunted. He didn’t look offended, he didn’t even sound upset. He sounded distracted. Like he had just said what came to his mind as he was working.

"It’s alright Kellen. I’m not upset. What do you mean it doesn’t look like a gate explosion?" He asked and Kellen nodded, trying to hype himself up to speak about it. This felt so much like the time he had to explain about poison gates before, in Uncle Tom’s office ages ago.

"Well...we don’t have a lot of information on poison gates, but most gates don’t become a suction cup when a gate explodes. They normally explode outwards, with monsters and creatures coming out. We...I didn’t see any of that happening when the poison gate exploded. That, and we have the D Class gate as a reference. We kind of know how warped the surroundings get when a gate of that level explodes. We would already know if the poison was spreading this way." Kellen said.

Speaking, even about this topic, somehow seemed to calm him. Casper blinked several times, but it was Pamela who barked the order out.

"Check to see if there is any poison coming from the front lines! More than two days ago! More than a week ago!" She ordered, and that told Kellen that she had been listening in this whole time. She just hadn’t spoken up until now.

Rhys turned Kellen so that he was facing him, more in his arms than before. Kellen now had his back to Casper and the rest of the room, with the blank screen in front of him, behind Rhys’ shoulder.

"Are you sure?" He asked and Kellen gulped.

"Yeah. It wasn’t an...explosion. I think...I hope I’m wrong, but I think it sucked them in. That it is trying to grow bigger again. Take over more space." Kellen felt his eyes water. "We’re going to have to send a crew in to get to the core." Kellen said quietly and Rhys’ jaw tightened.

He knew what Kellen was saying without Kellen saying it. Everyone in the room knew it. With the front lines in chaos, who was the best option? The man who was teaching everyone? The man who had the longest streak of working as a Field Guide on their personal front lines?

Or a newbie, like they had originally planned. A newbie with experienced Espers.

The truth was staring them in the face, but Kellen knew that Rhys was going to be hesitant about it. It made perfect sense why he would be. Kellen was also nervous about this.

"We’re getting a call from the D.E.C." Peter said and Rhys sighed.

"Let it go through." Rhys said, turning so that Kellen and Rhys were facing the screen. Shortly after the announcement, Lieutenant Fisher’s face filled the screen. He looked grim, hardened, and when he noticed Kellen beside Rhys, his expression grew worse.

"Have you gotten in contact yet?" He asked without a greeting and Rhys shook his head.

"No. I haven’t. Has Sakura?" He asked and Lieutenant Fisher shook his head. Peter spoke up again.

"The Peach Guild is phoning in." Rhys let out a snort.

"Speak of Sakura. Patch her in too." Rhys told him and then the screen split until both Lieutenant Fisher and Sakura filled the screen. Sakura wasn’t in her office, the background too white behind her. The muffled sounds of people yelling and moving around came through on her side.

Her hair was up in a ponytail, her expression tight, her eyes glowing. They were also rimmed with red, showing that she had been crying. When she noticed Kellen was also here, her eyes watered instantly.

"Kellen, I-"

"Not now, Sakura." Kellen’s voice wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to sound, and he was pretty sure that alone was what convinced her to shut her mouth again and nod. She took a shaky breath before speaking again.

"I am assuming none of you have gotten in contact with them?" She asked and everyone shook their heads. "I have some people I can move around. Do you want me to send them with more equipment? Generators, all that shit? I wanted to speak with you two before I do it. I’m billing the government." She said calmly and Lieutenant Fisher chuckled.

"That’s not really asking, but sure. I’ll make sure that they know you are doing that, and why. I’m sure someone is going to kick up a stink, but fuck them. They keep using us as their fucking scape goats, they can take a few hits to their wallets for us." Lieutenant Fisher sounded bitter, angry, and Kellen was a bit surprised.

Rhys and Sakura however, seemed happy with his response.

"You’re going to fit in just fine." Sakura told him, and Lieutenant Fisher flushed.

"I’m not an S Class." He reminded her and she shrugged.

"So? You’re crazy enough to make up for that. Or, you can ask Captain Thatcher. I’m sure he’d be happy to lend you some crazy if you needed it." Sakura said, gesturing to where Rhys was on her screen. Rhys’ arm tightened around Kellen, pulling him closer.

"Sakura is correct. I have plenty to spare. I can even offer it at a discount, between friends." Rhys deadpanned and Kellen didn’t really think right now was the time to have this kind of conversation. Even as it felt like something was lifted from him.

"Uh, well, thank you for the kind offer, but-"

"S-Sir! I have the report! Nothing reported in the last 20 minutes. No shift, nothing! Levels are normal for the city!" It was someone from behind Rhys and Kellen, and both men turned their heads slightly. They watched as the person who had spoken out loud turned red and sat back down, embarrassed.

"What were they checking?" Sakura asked and Kellen answered.

"They were checking to see if the poison had spread to the city. I don’t...I don’t think the gate exploded." Kellen told her and Sakura’s eyes widened only slightly. She actually seemed...pretty unsurprised, but then again, why would she? Carlos had been monitoring the gate since Kellen had asked, probably before that unofficially as well.

He probably clocked it as not an explosion right away.

It was Lieutenant Fisher who was the most surprised.

"Why do you think that?" He asked, suspicious, and that was when Rhys launched into the explanation, saying everything word for word that Kellen had said previously, including some of the knowledge he had departed in Uncle Tom’s office as well. Rhys also suggested that they looked up the gate that they had for a reference, and after they had, Kellen could tell some of the anxiety left them.

Kellen was not less anxious.

It was never a good thing when a gate was behaving strangely. They were not in the clear, they were still very much in danger. How were they to know that this wasn’t the step that happened before a poison gate of this level exploded? They didn’t.

They couldn’t. They hadn’t existed before now.

"Okay. So we have more time than I thought?" Lieutenant Fisher said and Kellen scoffed.

"No. Our timer has run out." Kellen told them. "We’ve all been tiptoeing around this gate, and for good reason, but the gate is fighting back. We need a team in there, and they needed to be in there yesterday." Kellen said, anger coating every word that came out of his mouth. Sakura’s expression softened.

"Kellen, I understand that you’re upset, but-"

"Don’t patronize me." Kellen snapped. "I am upset, I have every right to be. We all have a right to be. The E.A.G. made this into an even bigger tragedy then it needed to be, but that’s not the fucking point. The point is that we need to get in that fucking gate, touch the core and actually buy ourselves times instead of crossing our fingers and hoping that we have more time." Kellen knew he was right.

He could tell by the thick silence that fell after he spoke. Rhys shifted awkwardly.

"Kellen, who the hell would agree to that?" He asked softly, already knowing the answer. Kellen turned his gaze towards him, meeting the yellow gaze of an S Class Esper.

"You know that answer already." Kellen told him quietly, and Rhys’ jaw tightened.

"You aren’t-"

"-We’ve got contact!"

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om