(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 410: Going to the front lines with the Captain, part 2

"She never listens, does she?" Rhys muttered, leaving the Brent comment alone. They had collectively said they would drop it, so Rhys would drop it. If Sergei kept his word, Rhys wasn’t going to be the one who broke it first.

At least, for now.

Sergei chuckled. He wiped his jaw with his free hand, his jewelry dangling in the dim glow of the street lights that lit the pathways. The sun was still about half an hour at least from rising, so they were the only things that were on. They illuminated main paths, but dissipated in the free lance area, and if there were any in the Guild area, they were paid for by said Guild.

No one ever said that the government was generous.

"She’s dedicated to her Guild. You should applaud her for that. She’s been so focused she’s barely been going on dates. I’ve only had to have one talk with a Guide so far about being mindful of where they have their sessions." Sergei said.

He had shoved his hands into his pockets after he’d wiped his jaw, a small smile on his lips. Rhys frowned, the opposite of the other man. His hands were down by his side, straight. Proper. He wouldn’t be caught dead with his uniform undone. Not like Sergei.

In fact, Rhys hadn’t seen Sergei this relaxed before. It was a strange thing to see, since usually all of the Captains were in top form. Uniforms were perfect, with not a speck of dust. Rhys couldn’t even say this was Brent’s influence. He too always had his uniform perfect. Just like Kellen. Just like Kellen’s mini mes.

Huh. Odd.

Rhys turned his attention back to Hill. Hill normally did more than what Sergei was implying. Not that she couldn’t slow down, she was allowed to, but it was something he didn’t expect. Not without some kind of warning. He hadn’t picked up any signs of it when they spoke on official business, nor when he saw her face to face over the cams. He’d have to look into this. Check in. After failing to check in with Gunther properly, Rhys was now haunted by the thought that he might fail another friend.

He was working on it with his therapist. He wasn’t sure it was sticking quite yet from his knee jerk reaction to the news. With that said, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t something going on with Hill. He’d make sure to speak to her in private once this issue with the generators was handled.

"Ha. Well, that is concerning, but we are more than capable of making sure that she is well taken care of. No trying to poach our Lieutenant, Sergei. I’m already down one." Rhys warned as he walked side by side with the other man. Sergei’s lips turned up slightly.

"Ah yes. You’ve certainly ’lost’ one of your Lieutenants, haven’t you? He’s off running around with the bad kids, isn’t he?" Bad kids was a very mild way of putting it. It was a group that had almost killed Kellen’s parents, and had just recently probably been in charge of killing Kellen’s Aunt’s partner. Rhys wouldn’t really call them bad kids, but he was sure it was Sergei’s way of taking away the power they had. Belittle them.

Rhys sighed.

"We had an argument. He’s not really..." Rhys trailed off. Part of him was acting, another part was worried that Gunther wasn’t going to come back. Not because he was going to join the E.A.G. in truth. He had no question about that. The man hated them, especially because they targeted Guides. He was in love with a Guide. These two things could not exist at the same time.

No, he was more worried that Gunther wasn’t going to come back for Casper’s sake, not his own. He was a stubborn man, and had put Casper’s needs above his own this whole time. Even if they were slightly warped, Rhys could recognise his intentions. Rhys also knew that Kellen had set up things in place for him to get all of the care he needed even while working undercover, to overcome these things that had twisted him up in his childhood. But Gunther was like him. freewebnσvel.cøm

There was a reason that neither of them had talked about their issues. They both liked to bottle everything up. Not bother anyone with their issues. Rhys and Gunther both thought it was the better solution. Rhys still wasn’t fully convinced that it was the wrong decision. He was sure Gunther thought the same.

Hell, this whole situation with Gunther was the reason why Rhys wanted to open up with Kellen. He was terrified that Kellen would look at him the same way that Casper had looked at Gunther. Like there was no hope. Nothing there worth saving. He didn’t want Kellen to ever come to the same conclusion as Casper. Hell, he didn’t want to surprise him with anything. His past, nothing.

That didn’t mean he was having an easy time trying to reach that goal. He was aware that Kellen had opened up to him, been far more vulnerable than Rhys had been, but he was trying. He was doing his best.

Kellen meant everything to him, the same way Casper meant everything to Gunther. Rhys had just dropped the ball when it came to preventing Gunther from making a stupid decision, while Gunther had made sure Rhys hadn’t. So, he owed Gunther. And he wanted to make sure that Hill didn’t have to be in a situation as either of them.

"I know this sounds silly of me to say, since he’s a grown man, but Gunther is just acting out. We never got to do so while we were kids, as I’m sure you can relate to, so I’m hoping that’s what this is. I just don’t want him to make any mistakes that he can’t take back, but yeah." Rhys told Sergei. Sergei, who originally wasn’t from the same city that Kellen, Gunther and Rhys were, nodded slowly.

Sergei had been raised by another country. Another country that Sergei didn’t like to talk about, but Rhys could make some assumptions about where. His pale colouring, his light eyes, his slender frame were all a good indicator of where he could have hailed from. There was another country that had been close by before, but with the takeover of the gates...well, countries were now not as close as they used to be. Plus, Sergei never wanted to talk about it.

Rhys could only imagine what they had done to him since Sergei was such a loyal person. He had dedicated so much to the city he hadn’t been born into, and cared so much for it. It was a mystery that Rhys wasn’t sure he was ever going to know, but from some of the glimpses he’d caught accidentally about Sergei’s past?

Well, Rhys was glad that he’d left his previous country and came here. Even if sometimes his teasing was a little much, and his S Class powers rubbed him the wrong way. Rhys just couldn’t see himself working as closely with any other S Classes as well as he did with Sergei and Sakura.

"That’s rather...sweet. Very forgiving of you as well." Sergei said, a light smile on his lips. As one of the few that was in the know about the real reason why Gunther was away from the Saturn Guild, there wasn’t much more either of them could say without revealing the truth.

After that, Rhys and Sergei spoke about the condition of the front lines, all while not speaking about Tom directly as they did so. Sergei did ask if he knew that Rhys was coming, and Rhys just smiled at him.

To get to the generators, they had to turn down the left hand path going towards the Guild areas. It was one of the few areas that was still lit up, obviously, since the generators lit everything in this area. It was meant to kind of blend into all of the other buildings in the area. Most of the buildings here were squat, one storey buildings meant to last, not impress.

Even if the colours were bright, gaudy in some cases due to the colours that represented each Guild, the small, squat brick building didn’t really blend in at all. Especially with the two guards posted outside. The building, small, with two windows that looked like they peered into your soul, were painted black to match the slick black door in front. It had apparently been an old power building in the past, and even now its purpose hadn’t changed completely, just shifted.

The guards who were posted outside, standing on either side of the door were wearing the colours of the D.E.C. Sergei smiled at them, as did Rhys, before both men entered through the narrow entryway.

Inside, stacks upon stacks of generators sat. Most were out of commission, needing a gentle touch from Rhys to turn back time. Rhys planned to do that today, but not before he checked on the new ones he had brought. There were only so many times he could turn back the time on items before things went wonky, which was why Rhys held off on doing it frequently. Plus, there was also the interference from the magic of the gates that did strange things to electronics as well.

While the generators functioned a bit differently then old work tech, that didn’t mean they weren’t electronics, and were prone to mutating. Another reason for the guards at the front door.

But, if what he thought was true, that Gunther had fiddled with the generators, then there had to be a reason for it.