Template:Featured Articles/44-2021
"Not fast enough," Gabriel said. "I just — I don't know. I'm fast. I make time my bitch. I keep feeling like I could have gotten him out." "Kane... You know, I reviewed Amanda's account. It feels like he made a choice." Kevin said quietly. "He chose to hold the rear. I don't know. I want to say I'd do the same, but I don't know if I have it in me. I can't imagine what that decision takes. But I think he made it and that being guilty about it isn't right. Our world is full of 'mights', but that's hindsight." "You think I don't know that?" The words flew out of Gabriel with a defensiveness that surprised him. "I mean, fuck, hello, the world went to shit, and there I was, picking up pieces and trying to figure out what the hell any of us could have done. And the answer is always nothing. I could have done nothing." He sounded bitter and jaded. And what he wanted to say was that he was tired of feeling so powerless, but that wasn't the kind of earnest thing he'd ever voice to Kevin. "I don't know," he said, quieter now. "You obviously know it sucks enough to take me out here." "Yeah. You needed to say it." Kevin said, He was openly contemptuous of a lot of therapy, but he'd been in the field for so long he'd accidentally figured out a few things over the years. "It's awful, kid. There's no way to make it right. But it happened and it isn't your fault." The door of the bar opened and a collection of contractors came in, loud and obnoxious. They were regulars, and they called out for drinks just as one pointed to Gabe. "Hey, who let the beaner in?" Kevin smiled to Gabe, almost beatifically as he stood up and walked over. "The beaner? That's my son." He said and his punch took the man off his feet. He snuck a grin back to Gabe moments before his friends dogpiled Kevin to the floor. Gabriel had, for a second, been stunned. He'd found his heart dropped, and just like that, Kevin had lifted it up again. He smiled and shook his head, then downed the remaining whiskey on the table and chased it with most of his remaining beer. He stood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, as Kevin flailed under a pile of racist assholes from god only knows where. This, he suspected, was the real reason that Kevin had brought him here. He stepped rather calmly and dispassionately toward a bearded man who was atop Kevin. The guy started to pull his fist back to throw a punch. Then, with the slightest flair of his powers, Gabriel tackled the man to the ground and punched him square in the jaw. |
