Gwen came to find him after his afternoon class.
Kellen was in the middle of cleaning up from the shooting range. The last of the Field Guides were trickling out of the class. Unlike the morning class, the afternoon class had a lot of questions. Kellen hadn’t anticipated it, but he welcomed it.
It didn’t seem like their questions came from animosity, and more...determination. To get better, to improve, to not let the other group get ahead of them. Kellen liked that kind of behaviour, and wanted to foster more of it so he let anyone who could stay around, remain behind and ask him questions about why the first class got to go first.
He was honest. He didn’t sugar coat it. He told them that naturally, Brent and Kellen had noticed a shift in their performances. He wanted to make sure that they knew that they were not below average. They were doing great, even better than the trajectory he had made up for his classes. The first class, the morning class, was just better than they were. Maybe it was the time of day, or the class make up, Kellen couldn’t confirm.
He’d only had two classes so far, he couldn’t put any of that to the test yet.
But his students did ask some good questions. Once he made it clear to them that he wasn’t biased either way to the classes, they asked about ways that they could improve. It was obvious that they wanted quick ways to do so, and Kellen shot those down, but also made it clear that if they put in these tips and tricks he would give them over the next two weeks, things could improve drastically. Nothing was a quick fix.
Anything that called itself that was a scam, or was a bandage that would let out a flood once it was ripped off.
Kellen went through each student individually and gave them detailed information on how they could improve. They seemed surprised that Kellen was paying such close attention to them, but also greatly appreciated his detail. He could tell that some were a little upset about him pointing out some of their flaws, but they didn’t get mad. They didn’t argue, they just nodded in resignment and Kellen was quite proud of them.
He had high hopes for his students.
So, Gwen swung by as the last of his students were slipping out, and Kellen was cleaning up the gun cases that they had to leave behind, the outlines, and anything else.
"Hey." Her voice was soft as she spoke up from just inside the doorway. She looked...like she hadn’t slept last night either. Kellen’s stomach dropped out.
Oh shit. He should have told her that they had arrived safely. Oh fuck. He was a terrible older brother.
Gwen watched as Kellen’s face fell, and went white. She immediately reacted, raising her hands.
"Don’t panic. Rhys messaged me, knowing that you wouldn’t have time to since you had to rush to your class. It’s okay. I knew shortly after you did that they arrived safely. You didn’t forget." Kellen tensed. Rhys has said it? Kellen was the one who was supposed to do so, but...He was a little out of sorts from everything that was going on, and the fact that he had little to no sleep over the past 48 hours.
He raised his hands, running both of them over his face as he sighed. freewёbnoνel.com
"You are too forgiving, Gwen. I was supposed to do that." He murmured, and Gwen chuckled.
"Yeah, well, I was thinking about tearing into you about having Rhys message me, and then I saw your dumb face and I realised that you were already suffering. I didn’t need to add to it." Gwen smiled, and Kellen sighed. He dropped his hands, sliding them into his pockets as he turned to face her.
"So if you knew, why are you here?" Kellen asked. Gwen rolled her eyes, snorting.
"Really? You’re really asking me that? Kellen, my dumb older brother, you just sent off two of your friends to the front lines, and you’re already a loner. You can’t afford to lose any more friends. So, I thought you’d be lonely. I came to brighten your day." She gave him a cheeky grin, but when Kellen stared at her without reacting, the grin slowly faded.
"Yeah?" Kellen said. He knew that what she said was true, but he also knew his little sister. Something else had to be going on. Gwen shifted, moving closer. She seemed hesitant for a long moment until Kellen opened his arms and Gwen rushed in.
She buried her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around his back tightly, squeezing him a little tighter than normal. Kellen said nothing, squeezing her just as tightly.
"I’m so glad that they made it safely." Gwen whispered. Kellen had a feeling it was something like this. During the whole ordeal, the attack, the E.A.G. announcing their intentions, everything, Gwen had remained mostly composed. It wasn’t like her at all. She was an emotional girl at her core, and Kellen had been too busy with his own things to check in with her. Gwen understood that, which was why she was coming to him now.
"Me too. They’ll be safe over there." Kellen whispered. She shook her head.
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