Chapter 30: A sudden jolt of pain

Charlie was just eating snacks when Kellen and Rhys returned. He smiled at the sight of Rhys, shoving the last of the snack he’d been eating into his mouth, dusting off his hands on his pants and standing up. He held out a hand to Rhys, and Rhys took it, giving it a squeeze.

“Thank you for doing this, Charlie.” Rhys said and Charlie gave a soft smile, looking between Kellen and Rhys.

“It’s no worries.” Charlie said. “I wanted to be of help, and if this is the best way, I’ll do it. Kellen assured me that you were okay, but are you?” He asked and Rhys gave a soft laugh as he pulled his hand away from Charlie’s.

“I am. Being around Kellen makes me feel more calm and more grounded.” Rhys said and Charlie nodded.

“Good. Have we spoken to Ms. Green yet?” He asked and Kellen thought it was cute that he called her Ms. Kellen shook his head.

“No, not yet. I was going to message her after speaking to Rhys, but got distracted.” Kellen admitted, feeling a little bit bad that this had been delayed even slightly. They should be on top of this, and instead Kellen got worked up and had to be calmed down. He sighed, running a hand over his face. This was so much worse than he thought it was. Taylor had said he was okay, but he was honestly beginning to doubt her.

Not because he thought she had any malicious intent, but because there were already so many things going on right now that emotional turmoil was probably the least of her worries when it came to Kellen’s body.

After he sighed, he pulled out his phone and turned. He sat down, using the edge of the couch to rest his phone on so that he could type. He didn’t like using the voice to text function, especially when other people were around. It felt embarrassing, and while he wasn’t ashamed of his condition, he didn’t like others overhearing what he was saying. It felt invasive.

They watched as Kellen texted Taylor and he wasn’t expecting an immediate reply, but he must have gotten her when she was taking a moment to rest.

Her only response was, Are you sure?

Valid. A reasonable thing to ask given how Kellen had been feeling and behaving.

Rhys agreed that this was the right thing to do. Charlie agreed after making sure that Rhys and I were both okay with it. We are all sure.

Taylor’s response after that was held back before she gave him a date and time. Tomorrow, early in the morning. Kellen ran the time past the other two. Charlie just shrugged.

“I have nothing better going on.” He said with a small knowing smile and Rhys pulled out his own phone to check his schedule. He scanned over and over before he nodded.

“I have time then I can do it.” He agreed and Kellen quickly sent that off to Taylor. She sent a thumbs up, and Kellen knew that they were locked in now.

No going back.

Kellen shoved his phone back into his pocket and leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

“Well, that’s one worry mostly gone.” Kellen said to them and Charlie smiled.

“I’m glad I was able to take some of the weight off of your shoulders.” Charlie told them and Rhys came to stand beside him. He placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

“Let me know if there is even a moment you think that you can’t continue. Don’t be brave. Do I think it is going to be the most horrible pain you’ve ever experienced? No, but I also don’t want you to continue past a minute if it feels unbearable. I’m serious, Charlie. Kellen is the only one so far who hasn’t been in pain, nor given me pain when guiding me.” Rhys warned and Charlie turned to look up at the older man.

He scanned Rhys’ face, seeming to be looking for something in particular. He let out a soft sound.

“I can imagine that any Guide prior to Kellen had a hard time dealing with you.” Charlie said carefully. “From the way that your powers feel around me, I can tell.” Charlie said before glancing at Kellen. “It’s probably a good thing you can’t feel them, Kellen. It might have scared you away.” Charlie said and Rhys’ lips twitched.

“I…don’t know if anything would have scared Kellen away.” Rhys admitted slowly and then turned a warm, yellow gaze towards Kellen. “He was the one who pursued me, did you know that? I got scared after nearly ruining his life but Kellen, the maniac, saw it as an incredible growth opportunity.” Rhys told him, sounding like he was telling a big secret to Charlie.

Charlie’s eyes widened as he glanced between Kellen and Rhys. Rhys, who was grinning broadly, and Kellen who was glaring at him, his face warm. The man was making his life intentionally difficult, and it was frustrating. How could he not go after someone who he had gotten such a high level of compatibility with?

“You are forgetting to mention that we also did a compatibility test during your ’attempt’.” Kellen said, putting a large emphasis on how Kellen thought he was being ridiculous for saying he was trying to ruin his life. He’d breathed new life into his life. It was stupid that he thought this way. “How was I going to turn away from a score that was higher than my parents?” Kellen demanded and Charlie blinked. He turned to Rhys.

“Mm. I can understand why you would avoid all of the warning signs then.” Charlie said cheerfully and Rhys jerked. He looked at Charlie, confused.

“Warning signs?” He asked and Charlie nodded matter-of-factly.

“Mmhmm. You have a lot of them. The constant smiling like everything is fine, the elevated levels of use of your powers, the fact that your eyes are never their normal shade, and your habit prior to Kellen arriving of avoiding guiding. If you weren’t who you were, Rhys, I would think that you were a few steps away from joining that terrorist organisation.” Charlie said. “You have all the hallmarks of the kind of Esper that Kellen’s Dad is helping his Mom make a profile on.”

That was news to Kellen and Rhys, apparently, but not surprising. It was actually more surprising that they didn’t have a profile already. They all kind of knew what they were looking for, they just hadn’t put it into words yet. Well, his parents were working on that.

“How long have they been working on that, Charlie?” Kellen asked and Charlie gave a shrug.

“I don’t know. Like, a day? Maybe two?” Charlie said. “They’re almost done, too. I think they planned to give it over today or tomorrow. Either to you, Rhys, or to the D.E.C. Maybe both?” Charlie suggested and Rhys nodded.

“That sounds about right. I have a meeting with the D.E.C. and your parents tomorrow, Kellen, so that’s probably what it is about. That, and the funerals.” Kellen nodded. He opened his mouth to say something when a piercing, jabbing pain focused on the middle of his forehead suddenly exploded.

Kellen bent in half, the pain so overwhelming that he lost all of his vision and his ability to hear outside of a piercing, terrible sound. Kellen gasped, glad for a moment that he was sitting or else he would have collapsed.

Gasping, he tried to breathe past the pain but it was so jarring and all consuming that Kellen couldn’t do anything but be in the moment of pain.

Kellen knew that they must be panicking, but there was nothing he could do to tell them that he was okay. He had no idea where this was coming from, and it was so damn painful that-

Kellen’s internal thoughts were cut off as images flashed before his unseeing eyes. Pictures, stills of things. It was hard for him to understand what he was seeing at first. Hard for him to decipher what was going on. They were moving too quickly, too fast. They needed to slow down so that he could understand them more.

It took critical seconds but eventually they slowed down enough that Kellen was able to interpret what they were about.

A funeral. Several funerals. Rain, black clothes, a sniper.

Several snipers.

Bodies. Upright, before several loud gunshots went off.

Two bodies falling to the ground. When whatever was showing him this panned to the bodies, it was his parents. Kellen didn’t even need the next shot to know what was behind it.

A blonde woman, short, with a fucking smirk on her face. Kellen couldn’t see her eyes, they were covered, but Kellen knew. E.A.G. That was the only organization that was going after his parents right now.

As soon as Kellen realised who, what, where, he needed to find out when. The why didn’t matter. Not to Kellen. He was sure it was going to be a stupid reason. After he had come to this conclusion, the pain slowly started to recede, which was when Kellen slowly started coming to.

He realised that he was moving, the anxious breath of a man running filling his ears. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

As soon as Kellen collapsed, Rhys had probably scooped him up and began running him to the Medical Bay. Kellen couldn’t even blame him. If he had been in his shoes, he would have done the same exact thing.

This was the first time in a while that Kellen had this…reaction? He wasn’t even sure what to call it. A revealing of the future? A surge of some kind? Either way, it was alarming to witness, and with how fucked up Kellen’s body already was, something could have gone wrong because of it.

“Rhys?” Kellen said softly, coming out of his pain haze. Rhys’ steps stuttered for a second before he continued moving.

“I am not going to listen to you saying you don’t need to get checked out.” Rhys told him sharply. “My heart nearly stopped when you grabbed your head.” Rhys told him, his voice shaking and Kellen didn’t argue with him.

“No. It’s not that. I saw the future again.” Kellen told him and opened his eyes to find the strong, clenched jaw of the man that he loved. He looked pissed, but Kellen knew it was actually fear. He wouldn’t be angry at Kellen, but he would be scared for him. “I need to tell you in case I go to sleep.” Kellen told him and Rhys shook his head slightly.

“No. Tell me after you get checked out, Kellen.” He was being oddly firm about this.

“Rhys-”

“After, Kellen! You won’t be going to sleep, so tell me after.” He was loud with his words, not quite shouting, but clearly making a point. Kellen held his tongue. He guessed he was telling him after then.

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