Chapter 249: A little nerd with a clipboard

The next two days were busy. They had another 7 more S Classes come to the Phoenix Guild and Kellen could finally feel what Sergei and Rhys had complained about when it came to meeting other S Classes.

There was this excess energy in the air. A fluttering, flickering thing that felt like a fly constantly buzzing in his ear. Kellen totally got it, as even he pulled up his lip at the feeling. He was just...better at handling his discomfort because he’d felt this kind of feeling before when he’d had to guide Espers that he wasn’t compatible with.

It made him wonder if that meant that S Classes could sense out other S Classes that they could get along with better through that uncomfortable feeling? Was that why Sergei, Rhys and Sakura got along? Because they were on the same wavelength?

When Kellen suggested this to his parents, Rhys, Sergei and Aunt Dina, they all seemed a bit surprised before Sergei scoffed.

"While that is an interesting idea, Guide Kellen, I refuse to believe that I can get along with Rhys, ever. Or Sakura." Sergei said and Kellen blinked, before even Rhys laughed.

"I, sadly, agree with Sergei, love. We don’t get along." Right. These two liked to put on a good show that they weren’t compatible and didn’t get along. Kellen momentarily forgot about it because when they weren’t fighting for gate rights or they had a common enemy, the two weren’t at each other’s throats.

Kellen wanted to roll his eyes at their behaviour, but his Mom beat him to it.

"You know, for two people who say they don’t get along all that well, you two get along like siblings." She mused, her eyes warm as she stared at the two men. They both bristled, and were ready to fight about it, when Aunt Dina spoke up and cut them off.

"It’s an interesting theory. We can already tell that a few of us aren’t compatible, do you want to see if it works on a smaller scale? I’m sure this is interesting enough and won’t hurt anyone that the other Captains would be willing to humour a few tests." She suggested, and that was what Kellen spent the last day before the meeting doing. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

He got to run tests amongst the elite of the elite. He was basically in charge of compatibility testing and it was...fascinating to be on the other side. He had a great time, honestly.

Brent wasn’t with him. He had instead decided that now that he had Kellen here, he was going to jump into work. Work that Kellen was supposed to do, but Brent wanted to do instead. They had gotten into a heated discussion about it since Brent should be working on things related to...oh, I don’t know, him taking over a whole Guild and family? But Brent didn’t want to do that.

He wanted something familiar, comforting, and he hadn’t been given any responsibilities for so long that he just wanted something to do. So, reluctantly, Kellen had given him the work that he was supposed to do, the work that he was helping pick up in Casper’s absence even though they had hired people to help, and Brent thrived.

Kellen realised after he’d given Brent the work that it wasn’t about the work at all. He just wanted to feel like he belonged at the Guild again, and when Kellen realised that he couldn’t say no to the man working. He wasn’t a monster.

So both Guides were hard at work while the S Classes recovered, got guiding that was basic, and healed.

Kellen’s theory about compatibility turned out to be pretty good in theory and practise. Kellen was able to isolate groups out of the S Classes where they found that they got along with certain Espers, but didn’t with others. It had nothing to do with personalities either, which was even more interesting.

It also didn’t matter if they were the same type of Esper either. They had a few Elemental Espers that were the same, and some got along and some didn’t. Kellen was having the time of his life. He had collected so much data over the last few days that he was excited to go over and have someone else comb through as well.

He wanted to reach out to Maeve, but had a feeling she was busy enough with her own things, and also that the Captains here wouldn’t appreciate him involving more of the Saturn Guild with the study. It was enough that Uncle Vance was helping with the study and seeing the information.

He did get their permission to publish it to the other Guides. He wanted them to realise that there was a correlation, and this could be used in a situation where rival S Classes who didn’t get along and needed soothing or Guiding could get catered attention. More knowledge always helped, especially since S Classes were notoriously stubborn, proud and crazy.

Kellen knew, full well, that they were probably helping him because of two reasons. He was an injured Guide, and he was an S Class. They didn’t know the second part, but they knew he was a Guide. They weren’t aware of the fact that their body language changed as soon as they entered a room with Kellen in it, but they did.

Kellen hadn’t picked up on it right away, but he did eventually. So, he used it to his advantage. He made sure he always had high calorie snacks around him over the last few days and was always eating since he was guiding a bunch of S Classes whether he knew it or not.

He was barely keeping up with his normal body weight too. It was very draining, even if he didn’t feel it. Rhys complained about it nightly, but didn’t stop Kellen either. He knew better, and Kellen loved him more for it. Kellen also hadn’t experienced another moment like what he had the first day they had encountered the S Classes, but no one was letting him guide Espers like that again either. Brent was in charge, and Kellen would be allowed to help over his dead body.

He had also converted the other Guides into his lackeys already as well. They weren’t going to let him help either. Kellen huffed, but he was secretly happy that Brent had grown close to the Guides so quickly, even if it was to bond over Kellen being foolish.

Another thing that became clear was the fact that the other S Classes had also been attacked, and it wasn’t just the S Classes that were staying with the Phoenix Guild. Kellen’s Mom had also done some calling out, checking in on a few S Classes she knew to see if they had come for the meeting and found that they had been harmed too. Captain Hawks’ contacts were also harmed, but there were a few that knew nothing of the attacks.

That had alarm bells ringing for Kellen, and for the others.

No one who was staying at the Phoenix Guild had come to them in a normal state. Nor had any of the S Classes that his Mom knew and Kellen called Aunt and Uncle. Or even cousin. The only reason they weren’t staying with Aunt Dina was because they either had a house in the city or the energies clashed too much and made them go too crazy.

Kellen would see them all at the meeting.

Rhys and Sergei roped Sakura in on the information that they had found and had her help them make a list of the S Classes they couldn’t get in contact with that were coming to the meeting and also those they had reached out to but hadn’t been attacked.

They were two lists, and they were people that everyone was cautious of. Kellen wanted to shoot them immediately, but Rhys and Sergei talked him out of it. They wanted to at least hear their excuses first.

Kellen was glad to know that they were of the same mind, while Sakura, back home, just sighed loudly over the phone. She told them not to bring disgrace to their city and Kellen assured her that they wouldn’t.

He’d make her proud. Sakura had choked up at that, growing a little emotional. She let them know that everything was fine here, except...the lieutenant had died.

That was news. Kellen thought that they would have lasted longer and Sakura, begrudgingly admitted that she had thought they would have lasted longer too. They were being careful and everything, but they did get quite a bit of information out of them. There was a large-scale plan coming to fruition. Something that they had planned and put into place a long time ago.

Sakura warned them to be careful at the meeting. She told Kellen to come armed to the meeting and told Sergei and Rhys to keep an eye on Kellen, and each other. Do not let each other out of their sight. Stay safe, and stay alive.

Sakura was not afraid to let them know that she cared about them, and as the more emotional of the group, Kellen was sure that the boys needed to hear it. Sergei rolled his eyes, Rhys scoffed, but Kellen knew that they appreciated it. Kellen did.

Kellen thanked Sakura for her warning, and asked a few more questions about the city before they had to leave.

They were having a mix and mingle dinner party on the lower level of the Guild building with the S Classes. It was a huge space, wide open for events just like this. After Kellen’s test with everyone, they knew what groups they could stay the longest with and that seemed to bring some comfort to the S Classes.

Unsurprising to Kellen, Rhys was the most compatible with everyone. No one found him too exhausting, which explained how Rhys could be around S Classes with ease and without losing his mind. Rhys had joked that it might have something to do with his power’s ability to cause others to go crazy and how he managed it, but Kellen didn’t think so. Rhys had issues with Guides, if he remembered correctly.

Maybe it was just how the coin was flipped? Maybe he got to be able to be around more Espers because he had issues around Guides? Rhys had stared at Kellen for a long moment before Kellen had leaned towards him and whispered in his ear, "maybe the reason you get along so well with me is because I’m not just a Guide?" It was a valid question, but one that seemed to rock Rhys to his core.

Kellen added it to the things he could bring up when going over his information that he had gathered. It was also something interesting to chew on since a lot of the Espers that went into the E.A.G. had problems with finding compatible Guides. If they could find out the reason, maybe they could take away the pull that the E.A.G. had on these people?

It was a distant hope, but one that Kellen considered important to consider.

The dinner party went great, smooth. The S Classes that Kellen had tested all gushed to Kellen about how the groups he had tentatively put together after he’d run his tests had worked, and they felt sane, normal, and grateful that they had listened to him.

They said a couple off the cuff things, but nothing as offensive as calling him a hole to stick their dick in. More like, ’wow, I never knew a Guide could be so smart!’.

That kind of stuff. It was water off of Kellen’s back, but Rhys was getting worked up. As was Sergei, but Kellen didn’t mind. It was a small change, but a change all the same. He wouldn’t allow himself to get upset when it was probably the first time they had been able to socialise so easily in years.

His parent’s proud smiles from the other side of the room told him that they were just as proud of him as well. Kellen beamed.

Now, if only the actual meeting went this smoothly, Kellen wouldn’t have to worry.