(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 224

Chapter 224: An injured Guide, is a protected Guide Chapter 224: An injured Guide, is a protected Guide The Captain rode the whole way up with Kellen while holding his hand, and pressing a kiss every once in a while against his temple.

Kellen didn’t mind, since it was only the two of them in the elevator.

However, he would be upset if he kept up that behaviour outside of the elevator.  Thankfully, the Captain knew when to push, and when to step back.

This time, he let Kellen leave him behind as he stepped out into the hallway, remaining glumly by the elevators.

Kellen took in his slightly hunched shoulders, and his sad, yellow eyes, and sighed.  Checking to make sure the coast was clear, Kellen stood up on his toes, making himself slightly taller, and with his thigh protesting, he kissed the Captain’s cheek.

He heard him gasp as he pulled away, a smile on his lips.

“Thanks for listening to me,” Kellen said, and Rhys covered the cheek Kellen kissed, his cheeks turning pink.  “Kellen!

In public?” Rhys said, and Kellen glanced around.  “There isn’t anyone here right now.

I checked.” Kellen said smugly, before he smiled at Rhys.

“I’ll see you later, alright?” Rhys stared at him, before he sighed.  “Well, I actually need to speak to whoever is in charge of the new recruits, so I’m going to follow a few minutes behind you into the gym.” He said, and Kellen’s eyes widened, before he nodded.  “Oh, of course.

That makes perfect sense.

I’ll see you again shortly, then.” Kellen said, hesitating for only another second more before turning on his heel and slowly making his way towards the gym.

He was playing it up, since the walls were see through, and watched as several of the Espers he normally worked out with stopped what they were doing.  One even ran to open the door for him.  “Oh my god, Guide Woods!

Are you alright?” One of them asked, and Kellen gave a tight smile.  “I’m alive.” He said, and the Esper swallowed thickly.  “Is there…anything I can help you with?” He asked and Kellen nodded.

He made sure to lean extra hard against the cane.  “Would you show me where the new recruits are training?

I was told that they were up here.” He gulped, nodded, and offered Kellen his arm.

Kellen shook his head with a smile.

“I appreciate the offer, but I have the cane for a reason.

If I don’t walk, I think I’ll feel incompetent.” Several of the Espers who had seen Kellen working out this whole time, and seen how much he pushed himself to be better, to be stronger, could not believe the words leaving his mouth.  The Esper shook his head, withdrawing his hand and slowly, carefully, led Kellen where he had asked.  It was the area off of the main gym that Kellen hadn’t had a chance to investigate properly since the first time Casper had shown him the Guild Tower.

The space was full of separated training rooms for varying levels of Class.  The Esper directed Kellen to the biggest room which was made for A Class powers.

Kellen would admit, they did have quite a few A Class Espers compared to other Guilds.

He guessed that it had something to do with how charismatic the Captain was, as well as the rest of the lieutenants.  Speaking of, Kellen found that it was Gunther in charge of the training today, and he was sporting a rather serious-looking bruise on his face.

A rain cloud circled him like a halo, and Kellen wondered what or who had hit him hard enough to cause an injury like that.   It appeared that they were doing a power testing day, since they had a few Guides on standby in the large room, while Gunther oversaw the rest of the training without the help of another Esper.  As soon as Kellen and his escort arrived, Gunther’s face went through several emotions.

It settled on shock as Kellen limped into the room.  “Green let you leave walking like that?” He asked, frowning, and Kellen chuckled.  “Do you think she had much of a choice?” Kellen countered, and Gunther’s frown grew deeper.  “You should be resting.

Where is Rhys when you need him?” He muttered, and Kellen chuckled again.  “I’ll manage.

I’m actually looking for my sister.

Is she here today?” Kellen asked, and Gunther frowned.

He looked over his shoulder, clearly looking at where she had just been, but found the spot empty.  “She was.

I just saw her.” He muttered, and Kellen smiled, and turned to the Esper with him.  “Could you close the door and stand in front of it for me?” He asked sweetly, and the Esper nodded, doing as Kellen asked.

Kellen looked around the room, and it didn’t take long for Gunther to connect the dots.  “Why on earth is she doing this?

She hasn’t been behaving like her normal self for the last couple of days.” Gunther muttered quietly, and Kellen chuckled.  “Well, I’m about to find out why.” Kellen told him with a smile.

“Gwen Woods, if you don’t come out this instant, things are going to get very bad for you.” Kellen raised his voice, filling the space with the sound of his words and watched as everyone stopped whatever exercises they were doing to look in his direction.

Kellen had used his big voice, and Gunther ducked his head, hiding his smile.  Nothing happened for a long, few minutes, and Kellen sighed.

Not wanting to waste any time, he looked down at his cane.

Made a show of raising it up, examining it, before tossing it a great distance away.  “If you don’t come out right now, I’m going to abandon the cane that Taylor gave me, and I’m going to put all of my weight on my injured leg.

You know, the one that got shot?

Yeah, that one, and I’m going to stand up the whole day, probably be in a lot of pain the whole time, and reopen my wound.” Gunther’s shoulders shook with silent laughter as every other Esper in the room’s face grew horrified.  The Guides in the room?

They were in a similar state as Gunther.

Quietly laughing, especially as Gwen materialized in front of him, frowning.  “That’s not-” Kellen reached out and yanked on the collar of her shirt, pulling her close.

He was smiling, but his eyes were serious.  “If you ever behave like this again, I am going to do something worse, understood?

Now, we’re going to a guiding room to talk whatever the fuck is going on out, because I can’t handle not having my little sister around right now.” Gwen’s gray eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to protest, before she swallowed, and nodded.  Releasing her collar, he sighed.  “Go grab my cane,” He ordered, and she scurried off.

Gunther snorted.  “You really need to work on your eyes, Kellen.

They glow quite a bit when you’re angry.” He said, and Kellen slid his gaze towards him, smirking.  “Maybe there is just too much going on that is making me angry?

Have you thought about that?” Gunther shook his head, his hands on his waist and smiling at Kellen.  “It’s good to see you in good spirits.

I’m sure we’ll talk after.” Gunther said, and Kellen nodded.

He didn’t warn him about Rhys, because he was sure that he knew he was on the way.  Instead, he waited until Gwen had come back with his cane, and took it from her, before wrapping his hand around her wrist and nearly dragging her to the guiding room that was available to them.

They could have gone into a different training room, but he didn’t know who had booked what.  What he did have access to was the guiding rooms, and he made sure to call the Guiding Division to book it for right now.

Gwen probably needed guiding, and Kellen also needed a quiet place to have this discussion.  Gwen was awkward, standing in the corner of the room as Kellen locked the door behind them.

She held her arms tight against her body, like she was afraid of Kellen or something.

Kellen, staring at her for just a moment before he sighed, made his way slowly, intentionally, towards the bed and sat down with an even heavier sigh.  “A-Are you alright?” Gwen asked nervously, and Kellen glanced at her before shaking his head.

He rubbed the thigh that had been shot, and wasn’t surprised that it helped the muscle relax.

It wasn’t his first time being shot, and probably wouldn’t be his last.  “I will be, but it’ll take some time.

Because we are lacking a bunch of Guides, Taylor can’t heal it completely.

Anyways, we need to talk.” Gwen swallowed nervously as Kellen looked at her.

“Gwen, why are you avoiding me?

Are you that upset with what I did?” He asked, and watched as she practically crumbled into dust.  “N-No!

How could I-That’s not it at all!

I just thought-I was just worried that-Aren’t you the one who doesn’t want to see me?” She was fumbling over her words.

They weren’t making complete sense, but Kellen was beginning to see the picture.

She actually looked like she was sweating quite a lot, and Kellen had a feeling it wasn’t from the training she had been doing.

“Why on earth would I not want to see you?” He asked, confused, and her expression grew pained.  “I…I said some really awful things to you this time.” She whispered.

“I was so rude, and I didn’t take into consideration how you’d be feeling.

Fuck.

I thought my heart was breaking when I saw you crying that first time.

You’ve never done that before.

You’re not…you’re usually so good at your job that I forgot…” She closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath to calm herself before she continued.

“I forgot that this probably isn’t just a job for you, is it?” She gave him a slightly bitter smile.

“And because I forgot, I said something awful to you.

So, I wanted to give you some space to just…be angry with me, I guess.” She said, and Kellen took a moment to think about what she was saying.  Oh, he was angry at her for ignoring him, and running away from him, but listening to her…If he had been anyone else, if he hadn’t been Kellen, her brother, there was a chance of her concern.

But he was her brother.

And there was no way he was ever going to be angry at her in that way.  “Gwen, I’ve practically already forgotten what you said to me.” Kellen told her honestly.

It had all been washed away once he had come to realise why he had reacted the way he had, and honestly?

He felt guilty for reacting the way that he had to the Captain at the time.

Gwen had called him out, as she should have, but she could have done it in a better way.

That’s how Kellen saw it.  Gwen’s eyes widened, and she stared at Kellen.  “B-But they were-” Kellen interrupted her.  “Yes, they were rude, but you were also partially right to call me out at the time.

I shouldn’t have spoken to him that way, but at the same time, I didn’t know what I was feeling at the time.

I didn’t know why I was reacting that way to him, and it took Taylor sitting me down and talking to me to figure it out.” Kellen said, and Gwen blinked.  “Wait, something happened, beyond Dad getting shot, right?” She asked slowly, and Kellen nodded.  “Uh, I guess.” Kellen admitted, before he sighed.

“I…I apparently have been in love with the Captain since I was a teen.

You were right, and I owe you a drink.

I was reacting that way because…I missed him, I guess?” Kellen said, and she looked at him.

It took her several seconds, probably a minute before she reacted.  “W-What?

Wait, who else knows?

Why haven’t I-right, everyone already thinks you two are together.

Oh my god.

That’s big news.

When did that happen?” She asked, and Kellen swallowed.  “The day of the photo shoot.

We sat down and…chatted.

It’s…it’s fine now, and I’m not upset about what happened.

Sure, could you have gone about it a different way?

Yes, but so could I.

I don’t want you to avoid me like this again.

I don’t like it, and I need my little sister right now.

I don’t need Esper Woods who wants to run away from me.

I need Gwen.” Gwen’s eyes watered, and she sniffed.  “I felt so guilty.

I watched how you froze, and I was so angry for the Captain that it wasn’t until after that I realised that I’d hurt you.

I’m so sorry Kellen.

And then I’ve been avoiding you, and then you and Dad got shot.

I fucking thought my heart was breaking.

I was so scared.” She had tears running down her face, and Kellen opened his arms.

She rushed forward, wrapping him up tightly.  “It’s okay now.

We’re both fine.” He comforted, and held his sobbing, baby sister in his arms.

“Just…next time you decide to interfere in my love life, can you not do it in such a public place?

That way I can yell at you in private.” She let out a bark of laughter in amongst her sobs, her body shaking with both.

Kellen just held her.  He doubted that she had cried to anyone yet, and he would be damned if she kept it all inside.

The Captain hadn’t let him, so he wasn’t going to let Gwen.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB Kellen has too big of a heart.