(BL) Hunting The Field Guide

Kellen sat there, in a daze, before he saw someone move across his vision and then he was being pulled up, not weighed down by his heavy bag. It was being taken from his back, and when he realised what was happening, he recognised who was in front of him.

Taylor was there, grasping him, pulling him up into a sitting position on the ground while the rest of her team put down a stretcher. He felt like he was watching everything in slow motion, knowing damn well it was happening at a rapid speed. He knew Taylor worked quickly, but his mind was so befuddled that everything was slow to him.

She was yelling at him, tears streaming down her face as she attempted to get a response from him. Her grip was tight on arms, her eyes a glowing green that was so bright Kellen had a hard time looking at her with his good eye.

A loud, piercing noise was echoing in Kellen's ears as he desperately tried to read her lips but couldn't. The sound was too loud, too consuming. He couldn't hear her over the sound, and he knew that it was going on for too long, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't hear what she was saying to him.

Kellen wanted to answer her, knew he needed to let the medical team know what was wrong with him but he couldn't focus. He couldn't focus on the others around him, someone else's heartbeat on his mind. Someone who had promised to be here when he got out.

"W-Where's Rhys?" Kellen's voice didn't feel like his own. He couldn't hear, could barely fucking see with his own blood in his eye, probably mixed with poison. He knew that needed to be seen to, so did his hand, but there was someone else he had to see first.

Taylor didn't look surprised by his question. She actually looked like she anticipated that Kellen would say it. Her gaze, which had been fierce, full of worry, didn't dull, but she seemed resigned. Especially by the way he had completely ignored everything else she had shouted at him.

She just turned, looking in a direction Kellen hadn't been able to because he'd been lying on his back in shock. Now that he was upright, with her fellow healers touching him, Kellen could look in that direction.

Kellen turned his head and spotted him.

He was spotless. He looked like the image of a Captain on the front lines. Something that Pamela would have caught for a photo shoot, was pretty sure that she had. Kellen felt a vague sense that he had a photo like this somewhere, but he wasn't sure if that was the toxins in his bloodstream talking or not.

Rhys was in his front line uniform, not a hair out of place. The sun was slowly rising behind him, illuminating him like a spotlight. His boots shined, his arms tucked behind his back, his buttons were even shining as Kellen glanced at him, dazed just at the sight of him. That was when Kellen scanned up, taking in the expression on his face, his eyes. His face was flat, but it was his eyes that gave him away. They were so bright Kellen winced, even if he didn't mean to. The man was staring at him with a look that made it impossible to think he wasn't gripped by a storm of emotion.

Kellen couldn't stop himself. He couldn't get up, his body in such a terrible state that he knew he would be getting an earful later but he didn't care. He felt his face crumble, his tough exterior crumbling as his body realised he was safe now, really safe because Rhys was here. His lips trembling as he held out his hand, the one with the glove still on it, and reached for the man who was probably 20 feet away.

"Rhys." Kellen muttered, feeling the words leave his mouth, unable to hear them. He couldn't hear how broken he sounded, how lost, but Rhys did.

Within a heartbeat, the stoic, official Captain was gone, and in its place was a man who had put himself to sleep to wait for Kellen to either come out alive or never wake up again.

His expression was stark, almost hopeless as he heard Kellen call his name. In that brief second that felt like it lasted forever, Kellen felt the wave of emotion wash over him that Rhys had to be feeling. The hopelessness, the hope, the fear, the worry, all of it, and Kellen just wanted to hold the other man. Wanted to comfort him as he was comforted.

Rhys' arms wrapped around him, the man of the same mind, and Kellen was surprised by how delicately Rhys was doing so. Like Kellen was a fragile little bird and not a man who had carried two people on his body for nearly 5 days to get them out of a hellhole. Rhys held him like none of that mattered, tucking him against his chest, not caring for the fact that Kellen probably stank to high heaven, was covered in strange, poisonous fluids and other things that Kellen wasn't even aware of. Just holding the man who meant more than the world to him. And Kellen?

Kellen held the man with everything he had. He had been a guiding light to him in a time he had never wanted to go through. He was the reason that Kellen kept moving, kept going. Kellen felt the sob leave him, and felt Rhys' grip tighten around him. Kellen was trying to keep it together, trying to remain strong. He'd done such a good job, not letting any of it slip in front of the others while he'd arrived here.

But now that it was mostly over, even with people still missing, Kellen couldn't keep it together. He knew that even though he couldn't see Gwen, she was in good hands. He couldn't even see Bree, or the others, and it was rude of him but Kellen didn't care. He could hand that worry over to someone else. Kellen was at capacity.

His body was shaking, fighting against the urge of falling apart with so many people watching. It took him only a second to register it, but he could feel that Rhys was talking to him, but Kellen shook his head. He didn't want the man pouring his heart out not only here, but not when he couldn't hear him either.

"I can't hear you." Kellen told him, and it was then that Rhys pulled back, his expression going firm. He didn't like hearing that, his already bright eyes going an even brighter shade of yellow. Kellen worried he wasn't okay, was about to offer him guiding without saying anything when Rhys' grip on his hand tightened.

His gloved hand. Rhys' expression shifted, horror transforming his face as the glove slipped off of Kellen's hand in a completely unnatural way. No glove was supposed to do that, and Kellen stared with open detachment at the state of his hand. It was in a terrible condition, and he could tell that both Taylor and Rhys were equal parts horrified and pissed.

The glove, when it had slipped off, revealed Kellen's bones and the tendons of his hand. It wasn't quite a classic degloving, since some of this had happened when the injury had first happened and Kellen had hidden it from Bree quickly with his glove, but it had only gotten worse. Kellen had known that, had refused to check the condition as long as the hand worked.

Seeing it in the almost daylight of earth, Kellen could observe with detachment that it was not good. The fact that Kellen had been able to work, do half of the things that he had while his hand was in this state was probably due to the fact that shock had helped him, and so had the toxin. A double edged sword that numbed his pain while making him delirious.

It was probably why he had heard Rhys' voice twice as much after the injury.

Rhys looked absolutely petrified, and Kellen knew that he had little to no choice in going with Taylor now. He hadn't had a choice before, but both of them seeing this? Yeah, Kellen was in for not just an earful, but a full on lecture. He almost looked forward to it.

The ringing was still in Kellen's ears, but it was fading slightly, to the point that Kellen could almost pick up on what the others were saying. He could almost hear what they were saying. It was like a buzz in the back of his mind as Kellen stared at the people around him.

He was sure he looked like an idiot. It happened sometimes. When Field Guides came out of a serious situation and the shock got to them after. Kellen had managed to avoid it happening with so many people around him before now, but he felt like he should give himself some leeway.

He'd just done what others hadn't been able to do. With great help, but still.

He'd made it out alive of a death trap gate, a gate that at a lower level had exploded and destroyed a whole region. He'd just proven that he had been not only able to touch the core, but had been able to save others while doing so.

Kellen should have felt proud, should have felt like he'd done something amazing. Instead, Kellen felt cold, tired, and just wanted to be held by Rhys.

Rhys, speaking to Taylor now, an arm around Kellen's back to keep him upright, was barking out orders. Kellen caught a glimpse of the others, a Hill and a few of the other Lieutenants that were on the front lines, but they were vague, and with only one eye. Kellen wanted to smile, wanted to tell others he was fine, but he was exhausted.

Rhys then made Kellen look at him, telling him something with his eyes, but Kellen couldn't read it. Not until the man bent further, slowly picking Kellen up in his arms and Kellen got it. He wasn't asking permission, just letting Kellen know what was happening. That was fine.

It was Rhys after all.

Taylor was with him, with them, the whole time. She kept pace with Rhys as he rose up, his chest vibrating under Kellen's other hand, his shouts a strange comfort to Kellen after he'd heard Rhys' voice calling for him over and over in the gate. Taylor's eyes held deep emotion, her green gaze burning as she too, barked orders to her people. Two people who Kellen cared about, two people who cared about him.

It was a good thing to witness, a good thing to be a part of.

Kellen, who had been in control this whole time, who had held up everyone until now, let Rhys take over. He gently rested his head against Rhys' chest, glad to be back. Glad to have made it.

He was fighting the exhaustion that was filling him, knowing he needed to be awake to be examined. He couldn't pass out. Not now. Not when several of the people from the gate were unconscious, not when he had so much he needed to tell them, warn them about.

He needed to give them his notebook, he needed to give them the samples.

He needed to give them Gwen's leg.

He had to stay awake long enough to be given permission to kiss Rhys. Let him know that he was real, he was here. God, he wanted to kiss the man. Hold him, never let him go. He just wanted a deeper level of comfort. That reminder that he had actually made it. Him, Gwen and Bree had truly made it out alive.

He was never going to do something like that again.