Chapter 9: A lazy lion

The reason why Sakura was back so soon after they had all been at the front lines was simple. The poison gate.

Carlos was still tucked away in the Medical Bay helping Taylor and her team work on what kind of poison was in the bodies of the downed Espers and Guides, and what they could do to counteract that. That meant any of the team that Carlos normally worked with was also at the Saturn Guild. Rhys, Maeve, and the other members of the research team were rather welcoming to the Peach Guild members.

After all, they all knew each other, were friendly with each other outside of the allegiance to their respective Guilds. That meant that Carlos, while he had been a secretive entity up until this point, had nothing to worry about.

Especially since Maeve had spoken to Rhys and Kellen the night before.

They’d run into each other while Kellen and Rhys were picking up something to eat after sending Kellen’s parents on their way and Taylor had let Kellen go rest. She had been surprised and horrified to see Kellen in his state, like every other Esper Kellen had run into.

She had asked for what she could be told, and Kellen, knowing that her and her team were going to be integral to finding out what was wrong with his people and his sister, told him everything that he could. Including that a man was helping Taylor, and that he may or may not be in danger/dangerous. Maeve had looked at Kellen, looked at the condition he was in, and asked him a simple question.

Had he helped Kellen up until this point?

Kellen told her that he was the reason that Kellen was able to enter into the gate, why anyone was able to enter the gate, and that he was working diligently to get everyone else awake and alert. She had simply nodded, looked at Rhys, and gave a slight smile.

The next morning before their meeting, Kellen had heard whispers that Maeve, a normally quiet senior member of the Saturn Guild, was letting others know that they needed to leave the ’weird man’ alone, or else.

No one was going to mess with Dr. Maeve Lyons.

The two Guilds were heavily interwoven at the moment, and while Rhys didn’t seem bothered by that at the moment, Sakura did. Sakura looked anxious, worried, not happy with anything that was going on. It didn’t even look like she’d slept well the night before. Her eyes were a little bloodshot now that Kellen could focus on someone else.

“Should you even be here?” Kellen asked her before their meeting started. Sakura started, staring at Kellen blankly for a moment before her expression hardened.

“You should watch your tone right now, Kellen. If you’re about to tell me that I look bad, I’m going to have to apologise to Captain Thatcher because I’m going to rip a strip off of you.” Sakura growled. Kellen was a little surprised by her outburst, but that only grew as Rhys gave a chuckle.

Rhys’ arm came around Kellen from behind, his chin coming to rest on Kellen’s shoulder as Kellen felt more confusion fill him.

“It’s alright, Sakura. Kellen deserves it with that comment. Everyone knows that you don’t comment on a woman’s appearance, unless you’re a woman or you’re trying to court her.” Rhys said. Kellen didn’t appreciate the implications.

“I didn’t say anything about her appearance.” Kellen protested, and Rhys chuckled. Sakura sat in her seat, a look on her face that Kellen couldn’t quite place before she let out a sigh.

“You basically did.” She said, the anger dimmed significantly. “And if I wasn’t here, who the hell else would have stepped in to stop those fucking idiots from trying to take everything from you?” She shook her head, her gaze softer when she looked at Kellen the second time. “Plus, I want to be here. I need to be here. Half of my fucking Guild is here.” She muttered angrily, and Rhys let out a soft laugh.

He sounded like a content predator. A happy, lazy lion.

“You could always just merge with the Saturn Guild. Of course, with the Saturn Guild still at the forefront. You wouldn’t be the first to do it.” He told her and Sakura’s gaze narrowed. That was the first time that Kellen heard news of that. Was that how he was able to have two S Classes in his Guild?

He’d swallowed their old one?

“Absolutely not, you fucker. You are not getting my Guild. I worked too fucking hard to allow that to happen. Just because we get along does not mean that I am going to let you take over my people.” Kellen felt a bit like he was a man caught between two hulking behemoths. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it was the first time that he didn’t feel too small next to them.

“Rhys, stop antagonising Sakura. I’m sorry if what I said made you upset. I was just worried that you should be at home resting, like I am court ordered to do after I finish this meeting.” Kellen said, and listened as Rhys laughed.

“Court ordered? By who?” He asked. He pressed a kiss against Kellen’s neck before he pulled back. He was still touching Kellen though. However this time he was playing with the short hairs at the back of Kellen’s neck where he’d just kissed. Kellen did his best not to shiver.

“Renee sent me a message. Apparently Mom had sent her a picture of my condition. She ripped a strip off of me and told me that she would get the authorities involved if I didn’t take a break.” Kellen didn’t mention the part where she had also asked how Pamela was doing. Sakura didn’t need to know about that relationship, or what was left of it.

Kellen wasn’t even sure he should know anything else about it. He’d tried to help Casper and Gunther, and look how that had turned out?

Rhys chuckled, his fingers still twirling Kellen’s hairs.

“Cute. I’ll have to tell Sergei to keep a leash on his people.” Rhys said it was such an affectionate tone that Kellen didn’t realise what he’d said right away. Sakura let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“Mmhmm. Those idiots thought that Kellen was going to calm you down. As far as I can see, you’re barely controlling your rage.” Sakura noted, before she sighed again. She rubbed her hand over her face. “We should get down to business. Despite me wanting to bite Kellen’s head off specifically for saying I looked bad, I should get home and get some sleep. Veronica has been on my case about it since I got back.” Kellen just nodded.

He was sure that was the case. Lieutenant Spencer had a good head on her shoulders, something that someone who remained at Sakura’s side would need. Anyone who was working with S Classes needed at least one member around them that had their head on straight. It was Casper in their circle.

It could have been Kellen, but he was feeling that it was safe to say it was Casper. Kellen liked Rhys a little too much to believe he could be a hard ass. Maybe in the past he could have been, but if the circumstances aligned just right?

Kellen would let Rhys get away with almost anything. So, Casper it was.

“Understood.” Kellen said, nodding and turning his attention to the task at hand.

~

Rhys, Kellen and Sakura went through everything that they could. They went through information from the front lines, the gate, and what had happened in the city while they were gone. Thankfully, nothing crazy had happened in the city while they were gone. Lieutenant Fisher kept a rather tight grip on everything.

There was a bit of a ripple of panic that went through the common populace when the Saturn Guild had gone dark. Kellen hadn’t known about that part as Rhys didn’t tell him, nor did Casper, but he was sure there was a reason for it. Rhys did explain it to him now that they were out of it.

It was to brace the world for if Rhys had to be put down. Kellen hated hearing it, but Sakura didn’t let Kellen sit in the moment for long. She said it was a reasonable thing to do, and the right thing. Most other S Classes around the world knew what ’going dark’ meant. It was an international safety sign that something wasn’t quite right.

While Kellen sat reeling with this new information, Rhys told Sakura that he had made sure to give the signal that things weren’t as dire, and Sakura just nodded. She did look a little relieved. Kellen wanted to ask what would happen if he hadn’t given the signal, but it wasn’t the time to do so.

They also went over the next steps that they needed to take. Kellen made it clear that he wanted, no, needed to save Brent from whatever situation he was currently in. Sakura looked grim hearing that.

She told Kellen that while she was in full support of him doing so, he was in no state to be flying internationally. Forget the eye, it was the bandaged up hand that she was more worried about. Kellen was a little shocked to hear that, but then again, he was mostly tuning out how concerned everyone was about his eye. Most people didn’t consider the state of his hand. Of course Sakura would have access to what was going on with Kellen.

Carlos was the man who was in charge of his care with Taylor. He had to be keeping her in the loop because he was part of her Guild.

Sakura made it clear that as long as Kellen didn’t have enough skin on his hand, he shouldn’t be going anywhere. It would be a great disservice to him and to Rhys if he went abroad without healing that much. If she knew anything about Brent, and she did know a bit about the man, he would not hold it against Kellen for him to heal himself at least that much before saving him.

Kellen didn’t like hearing those words from her, but he knew that she was right. Brent probably didn’t even think that they knew where he was. Hell, he might not even know what happened. Kellen felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he thought of the man.

He really, really hoped that Sakura was right. He didn’t want to deal with an angry Brent on top of whatever hell he’d gotten himself into.

Beyond that, they went over policies and the boring nitty gritty of what Sakura would do in emergency situations when Rhys and Kellen were gone. It was better to get these details out of the way while things were calm and over a longer period of time instead of in a rush.

The meeting took another 3 hours, and during that time Henry came by and dropped off food for the trio, ruffling everyone’s hair in a way that Kellen wasn’t even aware that he’d missed. It was good that his Dad was back in any part.

Rhys seemed surprised by the affection of the older Guide, while Sakura lived for the attention. She was like a puppy, so excited just for any little touch.

Once the meeting was done, Rhys saw Sakura off, taking her down to the main floor in a public power play while Kellen stayed tucked away in the conference room. He didn’t mind. He wasn’t exactly allowed to carry a gun right now. He was, essentially, defenseless.

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