The scream of sirens shocked Kellen out of the current guiding session he was in. It was a rather shocking experience, and Kellen's first instinct was the check on the Esper before him. Before he could, a soft but firm voice came over the speakers every room was equipped with.
"Code yellow. I repeat, code yellow. All available Guides are to head for the fourth floor."
Code yellow? That was an Esper who was only a few steps away from a power surge. How the hell did an Esper get to that level on the fourth floor?
Espers who were in such dangerous conditions didn't end up on the fourth floor, they went to the higher floors for immediate, safer guiding. This was due to the fact that the fourth floor was the second floor for the C Class Guides. It was where Kellen's office was located.
Kellen swallowed and glanced down at the hand he still held, before looking up at the Esper in front of him. He was a C Class as well, and had been seeing Kellen since he arrived at Guiding Center B. He was the closest Kellen had to a regular Esper, so he had some attachment to him.
To see him so pale while in the middle of a session made Kellen wonder what he was sensing from the hallway.
"Are you alright, Esper?" Kellen asked softly, and the Esper shook himself. The Esper seemed to take a few deep breaths to gather himself before removing his hand from Kellen's. Despite the surprise, Kellen hadn't stopped guiding the Esper, until they broke the contact themselves.
Kellen was not going to get a complaint that he wasn't doing his job properly.
The Esper even got to their feet, shaking slightly, making Kellen frown at the sight. That was not normal behaviour, and Kellen was at a disadvantage because he couldn't sense what was going on in the hallway.
"I'm alright, Guide Woods. I think you should go and see to the Esper in code yellow outside." If he was shaking like a leaf like this in front of Kellen, that only made Kellen's senses sharpen as he turned his gaze to behind the Esper's back and towards the door leading to the hallway.
Kellen, unlike a vast majority of Guides, wasn't able to sense the shift of powers in the air. It wasn't classified by higher Class or lower Class, but by person.
There were Guides out there who were F Class and were able to sense fluctuations in powers, thus giving them a chance to work in the Esper and Guide world, but Kellen hadn't been blessed that way. He was only able to tell the state of someone by physically touching them.
It was clear that this Esper was able to pick up on the surging power in the hallway, and Kellen trusted them not to lie to them. Especially if their life was at risk.
Sighing, Kellen got to his feet. Since the Esper had already cut contact, there was no point to continue on as if nothing was happening.
Nervously, Kellen wiped his hands on his pants, resigning himself to the fact that he was probably the only Guide on this level who would go out to check. The others were probably too scared to do so.
He cast a glance around his room, taking in the simple office with one glance. It was a nice office, with a soft couch that he usually had the Espers sit on during Guiding sessions, while he sat in a plush chair next to them and held their hand on the armrest of the couch. He had a desk with a nice, soft leather chair that he sat in when he wasn't busy guiding others and instead writing in files. It was a nice place.
Kellen sighed. Hopefully, nothing horrible was happening in the hallway.
He headed for the door, and was about to open it before stopping, and almost as an afterthought, turned and gave a soft smile to the Esper. In the few moments that Kellen had gotten up, the Esper had moved to the center of the room and was nervously fiddling with his hands. His eyes were glowing orange with his powers, clearly anxious due to the power fluctuation coming from outside of the door.
"I shall be back shortly. Make yourself a cup of tea to calm yourself while I'm away." Kellen spoke softly, but with quiet authority. Enough that the Esper swallowed and nodded as Kellen gestured to the small kettle with cups and next to it on the corner of Kellen's desk. Then Kellen turned his attention back to the door. Swallowing, he gripped the door handle, and gave it a turn.
He blinked as suddenly the door flew away, slamming into the wall at the end of the hallway. A large gust of wind whipped him in the face, but the most Kellen did was blink.
This, this was nothing. Kellen had dealt with life or death situations which had required lightning quick reflexes. A little door being snatched out of his hands was chump change in comparison to what he dealt with on the front lines.
Having to work to prove himself over and over in the eyes of the Guilds and government who ran the front lines as a Field Guide meant Kellen didn't flinch for much. Especially when his livelihood was on the line.
He glanced down the hallway to the right, where the wind was coming from. From the reaction, he knew three things right away. One, they were an elemental Esper. Two, they were probably a wind type elemental Esper. Three, that was the direction of the elevators and emergency staircases.
This wasn't a good sign if the building was suddenly ordered to evacuate, especially since there were civilians who worked on this floor and higher.
Kellen was going to have to do something about this, since he was sure none of the other Guides were going to be able to, even if he was the least compatible with Wind type Espers.
Swallowing, Kellen turned towards the right and raising his arms to cover his face, he began the arduous journey down the hallway. As he passed a couple of rooms, he could tell who had tried to open the door, and who hadn't.
Those who had had their doors ripped off. When Kellen glanced into the rooms to check on those inside, he found the Guides in a state of panic, while the Espers seemed ill. The Guides seemed shell-shocked, and thankfully, their soft looks were enough to shake the Espers out of their fear enough to force them to protect the little Guides.
Low levels like Kellen and the others like him weren't used to coming up against something like this. That was the cost of being a higher Class Guide. You came up against power surges a lot more.
At least in the city. Kellen grimly remembered the many, many Espers he had to make sure didn't explode while on the front lines. Damn lunatics. All adrenaline junkies.
Whatever the power level the others could feel, Kellen could tell that whoever this Esper was, they shouldn't have been on the fourth floor. He just hoped that the higher Class Guides got here safely, and on time.
Kellen continued moving down the hallway against the wind. The closer he got the actual position of the Esper, the worse the wind got. He could feel the wind cutting his uniform, and he worried that this was a skill that the Esper was using unconsciously, like wind sickles. Whoever was at the end of the hallway, they weren't doing well if they were using skills randomly.
"Esper? Where are you?" Kellen's voice rang out in the hallway. He felt like he was speaking into a vortex. As soon as he spoke, he realised something. The wind hadn't been targeting him before, he just happened to get hurt by it by accident.
As soon as he called, that wasn't the case. The wind picked up force and pace, and he braced himself against the sudden aggression.
A scream rang out behind him, and he glanced there to find it was just a Guide who had been frightened by the sudden gust, not that someone had been hurt.
Swallowing again, Kellen pushed forward, knowing the only way he was going to be able to help this situation was if he got close enough to touch the Esper. He needed to have visuals on him first before he could even think about that. With how hard it was to keep his eyes open right now, that felt like a damn impossible task. That didn't mean Kellen was going to give up.
Kellen had only just started living what he considered a normal life, he wasn't going to let one stupid Esper ruin that for him.
The hallway finally opened up into the lobby space where another hallway stood across from him, and to the left were the set of elevators. Something felt...wrong about the view though, and it took Kellen a second to realise why.
The other hallway had been quite a bit smaller than the one he came from, maybe only four rooms at most. Kellen could see all of the rooms, which meant this psycho had exploded or cut the walls off of them. It was an insane amount of power, and clearly pointed to the fact that they weren't in a good state. Well, he wasn't in a good state.
He was on his knees, his head in his hands. His clothes whipped around him, his blond hair violently tossed by the constant wind around him. His mouth was open in a silent scream, his eyes black pits beyond the swirling yellow of his iris'. It was the first sign of a power surge, and Kellen's gut squeezed with worry.
Glancing around, he found the unconscious body of a Guide nearby, and he realised it was a colleague named Gabby. She was one of the better C Class Guides, just barely below B Class, and her room was in the exploded hallway.
From a quick glance, she seemed to be just unconscious, since her chest was still rising and falling, but he would need to check to see if she was seriously injured. Espers had a tendency to push outwards with their powers, pushing Guides great distances when their power surged. It could mean she had internal issues he couldn't see.
But first, dealing with this dangerous Esper.
"Esper? Can you hear me?" Kellen raised his voice against the roaring wind whipping around the lobby. For a moment, the wind seemed gentle, before it focused on him.
Kellen only had a few milliseconds to brace himself before he was flung against the far wall, the wind knocked out of him. He heard something break, and hoped that it had been the wall, and not a part of him. Knowing his body well enough, he knew that wasn't true. "Esper?" He asked, once he'd gotten air into his lungs again..
Clearly, the Esper didn't like to be called. Some Espers were like that. Most Espers had a little dose of crazy in them, but given that this one had let himself get to this point, Kellen had a feeling that they had a little extra crazy in their system.
This was the fucking middle of town, and there were about 15 Guiding Centers around. He should not have been in this condition, especially since Kellen was pretty sure he was wearing a Guild uniform.
Kellen got to his feet again, bracing himself. He had to get close enough to touch him.
Raising his hands in front of his face again, he pushed himself against the whipping and roaring wind. If he didn't do something about this soon, the Esper could surge, or damage the rest of the building. Or both. Kellen was only six months into his contract, having just gotten past his trial period. He wasn't about to let an idiot Esper ruin that for him.
Taking it one step at a time, he pushed on. He tried to protect his body now that he knew he was being targeted, but wasn't as successful as he wanted to be. He tried to duck and avoid the blows, but because of the jarring pain from what he thought was broken ribs, the Esper was able to get a few good, deep cuts on him.
Kellen knew he had to be covered in flecks of blood, and it was probably fairly alarming since his uniform was basically nurse scrubs. But that didn't matter. The Esper was within grabbing distance. He was so close to potentially fixing this problem.
Then the elevator doors opened.
It was the worst timing possible as Kellen looked towards the elevator in horror. The B Class Guides stared in shock at the scene before them. The Esper dangerously close to surging, and Kellen covered in cuts and blood. Kellen turned his gaze towards the Esper, and watched with dread as something flashed in those yellow iris'.
"No!" He screamed, jumping for the man, wrapping his arms around him and pouring his guiding into him. The man didn't budge even after Kellen tackled him, almost as if he was rooted to the spot. Kellen waited, trembling as he gushed his powers into the man, his own body withering as a consequence of his actions. He was afraid he was going to hear the terrible screams of the B Class Guides plunging to the ground floor, but he heard nothing.
When the silence continued, Kellen let out a trembling sigh and turned his attention to what he was actually doing.
The man was worse off then he had known, and it felt like pouring a watering can onto a raging forest fire. Kellen knew he wasn't compatible with wind types, but even the small amount of power he was able to give was enough to stave off a surge. What did that cost Kellen? What was the cost of his reckless, dangerous actions?
"Kellen, Kellen! Let go, we've got this!" Blurry, Kellen was shaken out of his panicked stupor by the hands that were pressed against his back and arms.
The B Class Guides from the elevator.
He released his tight hold on the Esper and the Guides pulled him away.
Quickly, Kellen's place was taken by another Guide, Moira, who quickly planted her lips against the Wind Esper. The wind died shortly after, given that Moira was excellent with all elemental types, and her method of guiding was very efficient.
Pleased that the worst hadn't happened, Kellen gave a tired, lopsided grin at the Guide who was helping him. Gerald was a taller man, thin, and about a decade older than Kellen. The two of them didn't always see eye to eye, and Kellen fully expected a lecture from the man for his behaviour, but Gerald held his tongue as he helped the injured Guide towards one of the empty, fully intact rooms.
"G-Gabby?" The words came out quietly, since Kellen's throat had gotten so dry from the wind. He'd also used up quite a bit of his powers to the point where he felt woozy and slightly delirious.
He wasn't compatible with any Wind Espers and his emotions had gotten the better of him at the last minute. Gerald frowned at the Guide for his behaviour before practically dragging the younger Guide towards a chaise lounge and setting him down none too gently.
"Unconscious, but fine." Gerald sighed, staring down at the man who could barely keep his head upright, almost as if he was severely intoxicated. "You really saved our asses back there Kellen, but what the hell were you thinking? You know it's dangerous for a C Class Guide to try and help a surging Esper." Kellen's laugh was pulled from his lips at Gerald's scolding, which only made the older Guide frown more.
It was cute that the Guides from Guiding Center B worked from a completely different understanding of Guiding compared to Kellen. On the front lines…all Guides were expected to stop someone from surging. Here, it was delegated to B Class and higher. It was amusing, but not in a ha ha way.
"I know, but I couldn't stop my body from moving. His eyes changed, and I just knew he was going to aim for the elevator so I had to do something." Gerald froze at his casual, slurred words, before his eyes sharpened and his face paled.
"His eyes...changed?" He prodded, trying to get more information out of the woozy Guide. Kellen nodded.
"You know I can't read power shifts like you can. I can only read physical cues. Usually I can't read changes in eyes like that. I know I shouldn't have been able to. But I just...I knew. I know it was reckless, but please tear me a new one later Gerald. I think I broke a rib." Or ribs. Kellen grinned widely at the stunned older man, but Gerald's face hardened.
"You should have led with that! Have the medical Espers arrived yet?" Gerald's voice got louder before it grew distant as the older Guide went searching for relief for Kellen's pain.
Kellen slouched over the edge of the chaise lounge, unable to keep himself sitting straight. He chuckled to himself, drunk on the lack of powers in his system. If he was feeling like this, he had gotten dangerously close to hurting himself.
Most city Guides would have already passed out given how they trained their stamina, but Kellen knew being unconscious in his current state was more dangerous.
So, he pinched his forearm to keep himself awake, trying to resist closing his eyes, even trying to blink rapidly to avoid it. It was a lost cause though, since his head slumped forward, and his eyes closed.
He didn't hear the footsteps approaching him, which was unusual in and of itself, and only noticed someone else was in the room when a shadow fell over him. Hopeful that it was someone who could keep him awake; maybe Moira who he enjoyed chatting to about idle things like cooking shows; he turned his head, about to open his eyes when the shadow spoke.
"Kellen Woods, as I live and breathe. Last I saw you was at your farewell party where you were dancing with several of my Espers while Ms. Hill poured everyone shots from my private liquor storage. You were full of excitement to leave the front lines." Kellen felt a shiver run up his spine. He knew that deep timber.
Hell, he was sure he would never be able to forget it no matter how long he lived.