(BL) Hunting The Field Guide
Chapter 443: The other shoe has fallen

Chapter 443: The other shoe has fallen

Kellen was wearing his Field Guide black for two reasons today.

One was in solidarity for his people who were on the front lines, and the second was because it was a black outfit and he was hoping to be able to pop in with his Dad to join the funeral. Even if it was only for a few minutes, it was something that he wanted to do, to support his family.

The funeral was happening near the end of his first class, and Charlie was also going to go to the funeral as well. That meant Kellen wasn’t planning to push him too hard today so that he wasn’t all sweaty when they both joined his Dad. He had already briefed his class yesterday on the plan for today and since they were in the simulations, they had told him to just go. A few of the Espers that hung around had said they would keep an eye on the group.

Kellen was grateful for the people around him that just stepped in, no questions asked. Kellen had a few of those kinds of relationships on the front lines, but not many had come from his colleagues, and not so easily. Kellen was beginning to see why people joined Guilds right away. This kind of reliability was addicting.

His Dad texted him, letting know when the stream was starting and Kellen, thankfully, had already sent Charlie off to take a quick shower and get into his ’black clothes’. It was a suit that Kellen’s Dad had lent him, and then they had rushed off to the elevator. They were doing it in one of the smaller conference rooms since it had the set up, and it was just easier. Rhys had offered it up this morning, and Kellen’s Dad had gratefully accepted it.

Kellen tied Charlie’s tie in the elevator so that when they arrived they were both dressed fully. Kellen’s Dad was already crying, a box of tissues nearby. It only took Kellen a few seconds to feel his own eyes water.

Aunt Dina looked...drained. Like every ounce of happiness had been drained out of her at the loss of her long time partner. Kellen couldn’t fucking blame her. The weather was either working in their favour, or a hindrance. It was raining, the sky behind them miserable. Kellen slid up on one side of his Dad, looping his arm through his while Charlie sniffled on the other side of his Dad.

"Who’s filming?" Kellen asked quietly and his Dad sniffed.

"One of her Lieutenants. You’ve met him. Jeff Parker. A good guy. He was...he was the one who introduced them." His Dad whispered carefully.

A voice spoke on the camera, and Kellen forgot that this was a live stream and that it worked both ways.

"I don’t regret it." A deep voice said. It held a lot of grief and Kellen felt his eyes water.

"You shouldn’t." Kellen’s Dad tried to sound firm, but his voice was wavering. He grabbed Kellen’s hand, squeezing it for strength. "They had a beautiful relationship. I don’t know how Dina is going to recover." His Dad said and Kellen nodded. He didn’t know how she was going to do that, either. They hadn’t imprinted, but that didn’t mean anything.

Watching the shell of his Aunt Dina walk around, her age showing on her face, Kellen couldn’t stop the tears running down his face.

"Oh Aunt Dina." Kellen murmured and his Dad squeezed his hand again.

"She’ll be okay. We won’t let her..." His Dad gulped. His eyes watering, spilling over. The white pressed dress shirt he was wearing underneath his black suit was already stained, soaked with his tears. Kellen knew what he was saying, what he was trying to say. A thick, hard bulb stuck in Kellen’s throat.

"We won’t let her make a stupid decision." Lieutenant Parker said. "We’re keeping an eye on her, and helping her track down the fuckers who did this." His voice was dark, low, and a little unhinged. Aunt Dina’s Guild was probably pissed. Aunt Dina before this had been relatively hands off. Her Guild had focused less on the monster side of things and worked more on ways to advance their society through the findings inside of gates. They were researchers, inventors, with so many life benefitting patents under their belts that they didn’t have to do anything else.

However, Aunt Dina was a good person. She only patented her things so that she could tell ’bad guys’ to go fuck themselves. She didn’t like monopolies and used her power for good in that regard. She was a good, good person. This couldn’t have happened to the worst person.

A cell phone dinged and the three of them heard Lieutenant Parker curse.

"Sorry. One sec." The angle shifted as the man grabbed his phone to check it. He wouldn’t have left his phone sound on for just any alert. Kellen’s Dad clearly thought the same.

"It’s okay, Jeff. Take your time." His Dad murmured and then they heard him swear.

"Oh fuck." That wasn’t a good thing.

"What happened?" Kellen asked, on alert. The camera shifted. The image of the procession went sideways slightly and it felt like they were on the road or something, looking through a window as they bounced about.

"Fuck. I have to tell Dina." He swore again. "This is horrible. Our biggest supporter, one of the wealthiest men, just passed away. This is going to be a big fucking deal." Kellen blinked. He had no idea what that meant. Kellen glanced at his Dad who also didn’t seem to understand.

"Why? Why is that a big deal?" Kellen asked, wiping at his eyes. This break gave Kellen a chance to compose himself. He glanced at his Dad. He was a lost cause, and that was okay. His Dad was allowed to be sad. Especially because his Mom wasn’t around right now.

"Because his kids are shitheads, and most of his grandkids are just as bad. No one knows who is going to succeed the company. No, the Guild." Lieutenant Parker sounded frustrated, as well as sad. Kellen felt his brows furrow.

"That does sound terrible. Were you close to him?" Kellen asked. He couldn’t tell by the way that he was speaking, but he didn’t think it was the wrong thing to ask given the situation. Lieutenant Park sighed.

"The handful of times I met him, he was a hardass, but a good man. He rewarded hard work. He rarely smiled, but if you had any issues and you were good to him, the next day you’d find whatever you brought up in conversation with him at your home address. He was that kind of man. Not a man of words, but a man of action. Dina was closer to him. She doesn’t fucking need this right now." Kellen agreed. She didn’t fucking need this right now.

She didn’t need to hear that another of her friends had passed.

"Did the news tell you if it was natural causes?" Kellen asked. That would make a big difference.

"Yeah. Apparently...this didn’t just happen. Okay. So they’ve already done the autopsy, and it was old age. Nothing strange. Thank goodness. Apparently he demanded that they read the will live, so that’s going to happen in a few days. Okay. I don’t have to rush this right now. Sorry everyone." Lieutenant Parker apologised.

"It’s okay. This is shocking news. What...what was his Guild involved with?" Kellen asked and Lieutenant Parker chuckled.

"They worked on physical enhancements. Augmented limbs, bionic body parts. Usually for wealthy civilians but sometimes a healer couldn’t get there in time, so lots of Espers and a few Field Guides have purchased from them before." Augmented body parts? Like Brent’s arm?

Kellen knew that Brent had to have come from somewhere where he had access to that kind of thing. He also had a lot of knowledge on how Guilds worked, how companies worked, and a grandfather who loved him.

More than his parents. More than anyone else in his family. Brent had also been having a hard time trying to get in contact with him, and hadn’t gotten a new arm in a long time. He hadn’t heard anything the whole time he’d gone to the front lines, and Kellen had checked in with him. He still hadn’t heard anything.

Brent was basically stuck using arms that didn’t fully work, while leaving a few of them in the hands of people that Rhys trusted, since Kellen didn’t have too much knowledge about prosthetics and the like.

Some of the words were circling in his head. Shitty kids, and mostly shitty grandkids...Shitty kids, and mostly shitty grandkids...

Something clicked, and Kellen prayed, hoping that he was wrong. A shiver went down his spine, that damn knowing in his gut twisting further, like a knife. Kellen’s Dad felt how Kellen stiffened, and turned to ask him what was wrong with a loud, blaring alarm filled the room. Charlie let out a scream, so surprised that he had a knee jerk reaction.

Kellen and his Dad squeezed each other’s hands, turning and looking around the room. Kellen hadn’t heard this sound before. It didn’t sound like a code yellow that was normal for the Guiding Centers, so he had no idea what it was.

For a second, Kellen thought it was an accident, but then he could hear the heavy footfalls out in the hallway. He hoped that someone was going to tell him what was going on, was going to tell them what was going on. Then, the door to the conference room flung open and Rhys stood there, his eyes wide and wild. He looked slightly disheveled, slightly panicked, but there was something else in his eyes that had every muscle in Kellen’s body tense.

Kellen turned, staring at him, and watched as his gaze went from Kellen to his Dad. Lieutenant Parker’s voice was asking what was going on, but Kellen felt that sinking, awful feeling fill his whole chest. Kellen was shaking his head before Rhys even got to him.

Rhys slammed the door behind him, the alarm still blaring. Kellen wasn’t even sure how he heard him over it as he approached. He looked...he looked devastated.

"The monsters came." Rhys said, and then swallowed. Kellen didn’t even register that Rhys’ hands were on his arms. "And...the gate exploded." Kellen watched as Rhys glanced between Kellen and his Dad, and Kellen shook his head more.

"No. No, Rhys. You’re wrong." Kellen was immediately in denial. He knew what that look was. He knew what Rhys wasn’t saying. He knew what the warning in his gut had been now, and Kellen turned and rushed to a garbage can, attempting to vomit up the fear that filled him.

Gwen couldn’t have been sucked into the gate. He was wrong. That hadn’t happened. He was wrong.

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