Chapter 44: Two hospital rooms, days apart

Brent was finally released from the hospital about a week later. During that time, his day and night cycles were supremely messed up because of the medication, and also because every time he would wake up, the news would be on.

The only thing anyone was talking about were attacks that the E.A.G. were doing, and the poison gate in his hometown. Brent was sick to his stomach. The public didn’t even know what was really going on, and it was an itch under Brent’s skin that he couldn’t know either.

He had no idea who got sucked in. He had no idea who didn’t get sucked in. All he saw was the tight-lipped face of Pamela, the little prissy blonde girl that Rhys had as his public relations girl. Her pink eyes glowed eerily in her face, his pale skin making her look ill and cruel at the same time.

“I speak for all of the Captains of our city’s Guilds today. A tragedy has taken place on the front lines, but make no mistake. We are working our fastest and trying our hardest to make sure that those we care about are safe and brought home. Our hearts ache for the families affected but per protocol, we cannot tell you whose families are affected until we have everything confirmed.” It was bullshit. Brent knew it.

They needed to get the bodies back, that’s what they weren’t saying. After all, they had been sucked into the fucking POISON gate. Brent might be hopeful, knew full well that they had the best minds working on this, but fuck, the first time this had happened the gate had spat them all out. Twisted and mangled, they’d had to go off of dental records to ID the bodies.

Kellen would never say it that way, but damn, that’s what it was.

The cold, hard truth was the fact that the front lines was scrambling. God, Brent hoped no one he knew personally had been sucked into the gate.

“We thank the public for the concern and kind words. We appreciate how deeply you care about this issue. After all, this isn’t just about us, but about you, as well. Our job is to protect the front lines so that you may rest peacefully in our cities and towns. We understand why you are concerned, but we are doing our best. Our best people have been working on this, but even we can’t predict what a gate we’ve only seen once before can do and will do. We thought we knew what was going to happen, and we were wrong. There is no one who can be blamed for this situation, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing our best to save and protect our people. This time, we will not be taking questions as I need to get to the front lines myself.” Wow. That was a big fucking deal.

Brent had never seen Prissy Pamela on the front lines. He’d even heard whispers that she never went to the front lines. Something was moving below the calm facade of the Saturn Guild and Brent was pissed he wasn’t there to help.

Hell, even if he was suddenly dropped back into the Saturn Guild’s hands, he wouldn’t even be of much help. He was sick, broken, and would only be in the way. Plus, he hadn’t even signed anything yet. Apparently, it was taking a long time to get the files that his brother wanted because, get this, his grandfather made it clear that Brent had to be involved and UNINJURED to collect the papers.

Too bad they didn’t have anyone who could shapeshift as a power. That would really help solve their issues. So instead, Brent had to sit back and feel like ants were crawling under his skin as anxiety and a severe case of hating that he was missing out filled him.

That was until, one day, the news broke. A rescue team had been sent into the gate. Shaky, not great footage was caught of a dark figure moving through an area that Brent barely recognised as the area that the scientists had set up in front of the gate.

Brent was horrified at the state of the area. Even in the dark he could make out the torn shapes of tents tossed to the side, dirt shifted. The area that he had known, the neatly lined up tents, labeled by each tent’s purpose, were gone.

The only thing that remained was the giant, ominous, glowing purple gate. The swirl of magic was obvious even from the shitty footage. Whoever was catching this was risking more than just their life to do this. They couldn’t be a civilian, that was fucking sure.

As the footage progressed, Brent watched it intently, unable to tear his gaze off of the footage. He was expecting, since this was the footage of the rescue party, that more people would come into the frame. More people would come to stand in front of the hell portal, outlined from behind by the vibrant gate.

However, that wasn’t the case. There were a few more bodies moving around the gate, but Brent could tell, somehow he just knew, that wasn’t the rescue party.

Part of that had to do with the sinking feeling in his gut. While he wasn’t there, there was something horrifyingly familiar about the outline he was seeing before him on the screen. He squinted his eyes, trying to see if he could make out anything defining. Anything that could get rid of this feeling in his gut.

He wanted to be wrong.

The footage shook more as the person shooting it jerked the camera to the side, showing off the tent just to the side, out of a blast radius that Brent was so damn familiar with he knew that this footage was real. There was a light on in the tent, showcasing off the colours of the tent and the people working inside of it. The uniforms were a familiar mix of pink, red and yellow. All three Guilds were working on this, so why the fuck was only one person going into the gate?

Who the fuck was going into the gate?

“Is there seriously only one person?” The voice whispered over the footage. It was muffled, like they were using a voice modulator so that they didn’t get in trouble. Brent knew it was too late for that, especially with the people from Kellen’s city. If they had produced people like Kellen, there was no way that someone who had put so many people in jeopardy and probably would spark fear in the hearts of the general public, would be able to get away with it. Not if Kellen had anything to say about it.

God, he hoped that Kellen had something to say about it.

That was when the person shooting zoomed in on someone coming up to the other person. Their face was hard, their hair short, and their gaze glowed the orange colour of a Physical Esper. Their uniform clearly showed that they were from the Saturn Guild on top of it, and it didn’t take Brent long to figure out that it was Karen, the Lieutenant from the Saturn Guild who spent the most time on the front lines. Who had been on the front lines when he had been taken.

Brent’s gut dropped as the uniform reflected back in the light that the other person was wearing was that of a Field Guide.

It could be anyone. Any person could be wearing that uniform. Brent didn’t need to feel this fucking terrible. He was working himself up for no reason. Plus, it couldn’t be Kellen. There was no way it was Kellen.

Rhys would never let Kellen go on his own. Wouldn’t even dream of it. He was a fucking S Class Esper! There was no way that the man would have enough control to let his fucking Guide go into not just A Dangerous Gate, but THE Dangerous Gate!

Brent was breathing heavily, his heart monitor beeping louder as he felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest.

Things only got worse as he watched Karen’s face in the grainy footage. She was speaking to whoever was before her, and it was clear that she was showing great admiration for this person.

“No. No, no, no.” Brent chanted to himself. Fuck! If he was going to do something so fucking stupid, he should be there with him! If Rhys wasn’t going to stop him, Brent should fucking be there! They should not be letting that man do stupid fucking shit on his own!

“Oh, fuck!” The videographer of the video whispered as Karen turned away, moving to the tent until the Field Guide, hopefully not Kellen, was left alone in front of the gate.

Then, they stepped in and the gate swallowed them up.

Brent held his breath, thinking something even worse was going to happen, but nothing did. The video cut off shortly after that, the newscaster popping up to declare that the person who had gotten the footage had to stop recording in fear of getting caught.

Brent couldn’t fucking breathe.

He had no phone, he had no friends, he had no way to contact or ask for someone to contact the Saturn Guild. If he did, even if his brother and Brent were on the same page right now, it would not bode well for him if they knew he cared about anything.

Brent was pissed. Brent was furious. Brent was scared.

Who the fuck else would go into the gate? What other Field Guide would do it?

He knew the system was corrupt and that they would send in one of the babies that Kellen and Brent were training, but that did not mean that Kellen would allow it, not after Bree, the hand chosen Guide had said she didn’t want to go in.

Kellen would protect those kids with his life.

So, who the fuck else would do it?

Brent felt panic and fear fill him as he couldn’t think of another fucking person who would do it. Who could do it. Only Kellen came to mind, and that terrified him. Why was he going in alone? Where was Rhys? Oh, god, had Rhys been sucked in?

Was that why he was going on? Was Rhys also in danger? He had no fucking clue if Rhys had to magically show up on the front lines! Brent barely understood that man’s powers as it stood!

God, Brent had never prayed to a god since he’d been born, but he was feeling faithful now. He just hoped, prayed that it wasn’t Kellen who had gone in, because that only terrified Brent more.

Who had been sucked into the gate? Whose people had been sucked into the gate? Who was stuck in there, without help, without hope, without Brent there to help them out either?

Brent worked himself up so bad that medical staff had to come check on him, much to his family’s dismay. He lost his t.v. privileges after that, so Brent was left alone with his thoughts. Driving himself insane. Even once he’d been released, he still didn’t have a t.v. even if he wasn’t in the hell hole of a childhood room anymore.

It was like they wanted him to go insane.

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