Chapter 17: A child’s room full of regret

Brent hadn’t been treated so roughly in over three years. It was frustrating to think that he had escaped, but then here he was.

Back in the fucking bedroom.

The one that he had worked so hard to escape, the one that his grandfather had helped him get out of. The one that legally, could not be classified as a bedroom because it had no fucking windows. It was just a room with four corners, a ceiling, a door, and a shitty, rickety bed meant for a child.

Here he was, apparently an heir to a vast empire, in a fucking itty bitty room.

Without a hand.

They could at least get him a new hand!

There was one plus. The lightbulb in here had been changed since he’d last been in here. It wasn’t hospital bright anymore. It did at least feel like a bedroom now, and he had a small desk and chair in here.

They were meant for a child, but hey. At least he had somewhere to sit besides the bed that looked like it was going to collapse at any second.

Brent sat down on the creaky, tiny chair, leaning his head back against the wall as he let out a heavy sigh. He hadn’t gotten treatment after Colby beat the shit out of him. They wouldn’t let that happen. They wanted to break him.

The joke was on them. Brent couldn’t be broken like that again. He wasn’t under their thumb anymore, and there was someone in his life who had taught him how to be strong in the face of people who wanted to take him down and belittle him.

He had grown quite a bit on the front lines. His body could take a few beatings now, even if they were from an Esper of Colby’s class. It was all thanks to Kellen, that monster, for training him like an Esper and pushing him specifically, even harder. Kellen made getting stronger look easy.

Kellen never knew it, but Brent had to take breaks from working out with him not because he wanted to, but because he needed to. Kellen was just…built different. Brent came from a neglectful home, Kellen didn’t, and he’d always liked to work out. Now that Kellen was an A Class?

He was going to breeze past how strong Brent was because of his Class level in a heartbeat. Brent had been taking rest days because of his arm, yes, but that was an excuse. He actually was just exhausted trying to keep up with the weight that the new Kellen was able to lift. He was going to start having Karen spot him when he lifted.

Brent was dropping off.

There was also the fact that Brent wasn’t there either. He hoped that Kellen was doing okay. God, he had no idea how much time had passed since he’d been taken. A few hours? He hoped that the monster raid was over. He also hoped that no one was hurt.

Brent groaned. His body ached. His face was swollen. He just wanted the gentle touch of Esper Green. She was so nice compared to some of the other Espers that Brent had dealt with, even on the front lines. Brent figured it had something to do with the fact that she was Kellen’s oldest friend and she appreciated all that Brent did for him on the front lines.

She also refused any kind of guiding from Brent. As if she could sense that he was a little freak. Brent didn’t like being called out as easily as she was able to do, but then again, it was probably for the best. It would do no one any good if Brent got involved romantically with one of Kellen’s close friends or family members and it didn’t work out.

It was why he only went on one date with Gwen before the two of them said that this was not a smart idea. Brent hadn’t even been the one to suggest it. Gwen had cornered him when he was away from Kellen’s side and told him that they needed to put a name on this thing between them before Kellen caught a whiff of it.

Brent was too nervous to tell her it was too fucking late, but he’d gone on the date because there was no way he could say no to her. She was Kellen’s sister, and she was so clearly his type that Kellen had noticed.

The date had actually been…nice. They had gone somewhere quiet, somewhere Kellen wouldn’t know about and had dinner and a few drinks. It didn’t go further than one shared kiss before both agreed that this? This wasn’t right.

Not because they weren’t attracted to each other, but because of everything else going on with their lives. Brent was sure that Gwen wasn’t his end all be all. He could tell that their compatibility was good, but not mind boggling. When Brent told Gwen that, she gave a small nod.

She agreed, and asked if Brent was upset that they had both put a halt to this. Brent shook his head. He was glad that they had done this, otherwise they would be sitting with that ’what if?’ question forever. This way, they got their answer and it wouldn’t ruin any relationships that Gwen got into later.

Gwen had laughed at Brent when he said that and clarified that it wouldn’t affect any relationships that either of them got into. Brent had just smiled at that.

Brent didn’t have the heart to tell her that while he had gone on this date with her, Gwen was kind of the only person who he could see himself entering in a relationship with at the time. This wasn’t because he was obsessed with her or anything. It was mostly out of duty.

Brent didn’t want a relationship. For the exact same reason that he was here right now.

He could be stolen at any point. Picked up from any part of the world against his will and taken away from the sides of loved ones. As long as Colby was alive and as long as his brother saw him as a nuisance, that was the fate of Brent.

He had been intentionally an ass to Kellen when they had first met for this very reason. Yet Kellen had been the first one to pierce through his armor.

Brent winced, his chest aching. He reached up, rubbing the spot, the meaty part of his hand digging into his chest, above his heart as it throbbed. He swallowed thickly.

Kellen was the first and now…

Brent sighed, shaking his head as his chest ached more. There was no point to it. He couldn’t think about things that hadn’t even really started. This was, unfortunately, probably one of the best ways to end it. Presumed death certainly put a damper on relationships. Only Kellen might have an inkling that he was alive.

Where?

That was something Brent hadn’t told him. He hoped that Kellen didn’t tell anyone but the Saturn Guild about it either. If he did tell someone else…well, Brent just didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

He didn’t want to make anyone else mourn his loss. At this point he wasn’t even certain that he wouldn’t ’accidentally’ fall off a 20 storey building. There were plenty in the city he was in now. One of the older strongholds from the old age era.

This city had pretty much stood its ground against the gate invasion and the endless monster raids. One of the few that humanity wrote about in history books. It was one of the reasons that Brent had changed his name slightly.

Kellen had known, to some degree, that Brent had a sketchy story. He’d just never cared to ask him more about it. If Kellen knew where Brent was from, he had a feeling it wouldn’t take him long to connect the dots.

Kellen was smart like that. Couldn’t tell when several people were flirting with him, but could see the bigger picture. Brent felt himself smile at the reminder.

If Kellen knew that he came from the city known for prosthetics it would only take him about half an hour to figure out who Brent was, who his grandfather had been, and why Brent hid it from him.

Brent opened his eyes, staring warily at the bed beside him. It looked like it had fresh sheets on it, but he couldn’t be sure. There wasn’t much else he could do, unless he wanted to write letters on the wall with his blood.

It was too soon into his kidnapping for him to be doing that, so he’d just go to bed instead. Maybe in the morning when he woke up things would be better.

~

Brent was wrong. Things were so terribly, horribly wrong.

He should have known when Colby showed up, smiling.

“Wakey wakey. I have some rather important news for you to hear.” Colby had said after shaking Brent awake aggressively. All of Brent’s body hurt because of this man, so he had hoped he would go at least his waking hours without having to see his gross face.

“What?” Brent croaked, slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position. He hadn’t changed, taken off his clothes, nothing. He knew better.

Colby grinned.

“Your little front lines? They’re in chaos. The new gate that was found a while ago? It exploded, sucking in a bunch of people.” Brent felt all of the colour drain from his face. What?

“You’re wrong.” Brent whispered, his lips feeling too big for his face. Were they swollen? Probably, but Brent couldn’t even tell at the moment. His hand was shaking. Who was near the gate? Who had he told to hide near the gate?

He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t at all. What he did know was that Sergei was near there, so were lots of the researchers.

Oh god.

What the fuck had happened while he’d been kidnapped?

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