tswiftownsmyheart - Tumblr blog

tswiftownsmyheart · 3 years

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(A kanej fanfic)

The hall buzzed with voices. This amount of kruge must've put Kaz in a good mood for today, thought Inej. She walked through the gambling parlor, on her way to Kaz's room. She would've slid through his window as she always did, but she had some stirring news. Why not this, she had said to herself. She was looking forward to tonight. Even for her, it was one of the best nights she could think of. Outside the Slat, the crowd moved on as usual. She waited by the bar for Kaz to come out. He'd asked her to meet him out there once she had gotten hold of the much-awaited news. "Another shot Kalem," a voice said.

"Did not spend the night at a gambling parlor, Jesper? This day has surely been pulled out of the year," Inej smirked.

"What do you think this is my love?" Jesper retorted in his usual charming manner. She quickly gulped down the shot before he could even reach the table. "Hey! That's mine"

"Well go ahead, take it back," Inej grinned. "Another one for me, Kalem," he said. Looking back at her he asked, "So, what's the Wraith doing here? Anything you need my guns for?"

"I've been waiting for Kaz here, who should've been here a long time ago." Saying this she hopped off the table and walked to Kaz's door. She would've knocked but she'd learned better than that over the years. As she closed the door behind her, she felt something by her feet. A fedora. Kaz's fedora. She walked to his bedroom, but she wished she'd thought against it. What she saw would stay with her for all her days. Something she would've never dreamt of. There, by the window tumbled in a heap was a body. His cane was protruding from somewhere below his chest. The crow's head hung there, dripping with blood. His hair was over his face, disheveled. She couldn't look straight at his face. His gloves were still on but they looked like they'd been through a sleepless night. She heard a gentle plop as the fedora fell from her hands. She wanted to run to the body, hug it tight and mourn. The girl who'd survived the Barrel wanted to find the soul who'd dared to enter the place he would regret in his dreams and stab him with every knife she could hold. She wanted to end the life of the bastard who'd dared to take away Kaz from her. His life from him. A life he survived being the worst demjin you could dream of, she thought. The Bastard of the Barrel, Dirtyhands, the boy who had been through too much, was no more. Rage shone brightly in her eyes. Her fury knew no bounds. She left the sad, mourning girl in the dark corner of her heart which hadn't been visited in long. She would deal with her later. Right now, the barrel would see the wrath of Inej Ghafa. That's when she saw what she should've long ago. A note. It laid on Kaz's table which was covered in papers and maps. She picked it up and dropped it just as quick. She drew her knives and jumped out the window. The golden lion on the paper shimmered as the light in his room flickered.

**************

"The killing was the best part of it," said one voice.

"I'd never thought it would stay the same but it did. It was so fun seeing the color fade from his eyes. Boss would've never allowed us in if he weren't sure of it," said another.

"I'm sure this means a raise. Oh the plans I have to spend it," said a third as all of them started laughing. More like cackling. In an evil undertone.

She would've pounced from the shadows and killed them and then and there, but she knew better. Her real aim lay in the room across her. She just had to find a way to get there. Brick by brick, she told herself. But how? She could've handled the two, but three? Plus there'd be more in the hall. She couldn't risk being seen. She wanted to finish Pekka Rollins. Make his worst wish come true. And she would. She then saw it. The vent in the roof. It was approachable from where she stood. She just needed a distraction to get there. Before she could think about anything, the distraction walked right through the door as if to serve her. As the man walked down the hall, people all around cheered. Loud and crowded. Just what she needed. She used the small dents along the wall to quickly climb the wall, and she was in the vents in no time. She wiggled through the vents trying to find an opening. They were too small, even for her. She felt them closing in with every breath she took. She heard a noise and lurched ahead just to find a grill. An opening. She moved towards it and pulled open the cover from the hinges holding them with one hand. Not all vent covers were connected to the vent. She'd learned that the hard way. She gracefully slid down into a dark void that seemed endless. No light, no sounds, nothing. She tried to find a wall, possibly a lamp or a door. She thought she felt a window. "Not that quick, Inej, is it?" a voice behind her asked. She jerked behind with a knife in each hand but all she could see was the dark. "You walked right into my trap didn't you little lynx?" She lost grip on reality for a second when she heard that name. Little lynx. Tante Heleen. The Menagerie. It all came flowing back to her. "Who are you? Step forward," she demanded. But that one second was all they needed. All around her she could feel the presence. She was about to slash her knives ahead of her but a number of hands caught her. She struggled, fought, tried to wriggle out, but they were too many. The knives were still in her hands. She tried moving her wrists when something, someone grabbed them out of her hands as if the blades didn't hurt the flesh it touched at all. She felt betrayed. They called her the Wraith, and she felt a tug in her gut when the shadows had chosen someone else to shelter. "Come on out you hellhound. Show me your face if you were raised in the Barrel."

That's when the lights filled the room. Every corner of it. No shadows spared. She looked at him right in the face. He grinned at her. Creepily. It felt familiar. The face, the voice. "What business? Who are you?" she barked.

"Oh, not a bad man at all. You're very polite though I see. I'm just here to talk to you." "I am not here to talk. Leave me alone. I want a meeting with Pekka Rollins. I need to even some scores" "Oh, you think he did that?" The hands holding her started laughing. She recognized some of them. They were from the halls.

"What do you mean, think? And what do you know about my business?"

"If your business is about Mr. Brekker and his cane, I know all about it my dear. I had a hand in it too"

"But the dim-"

"Oh, the note? Ha! that was easy to counterfeit. It lead you straight to us didn't it?"

"You mean-"

"Yes yes, I killed him. Very well now that we have got that out of our paths let's-" "WHY DID YOU DO IT? YOU HURT KAZ-"

"Oh no, I never laid a finger on your Mr.Brekker. He is quite safe. Asleep though. It's you I intend to talk to."

"I don't understand," Inej muttered after a pause. Then almost as if the epiphany struck her, she glared at him and exclaimed, "You faked it! That wasn't Kaz! You tailored him. That's what they were talking about."

"Yes you're quite smart indeed little lynx," at which Inej growled, but he ignored it and went on, "Now, if you want him to awake from the sleep he is in, we have some matters at hand. You worked in the menagerie before you became Brekker's spider didn't you?"

"I was slaved there, I did not work there"

"Yeah, whatever. Well, I need some work done. I need you to go back there and collect some information for me. It seems Heleen van Houden has been taking away my customers."

"And why do you think I am going to listen to a coward like you who couldn't fight me himself"

"Because if you don't, I kill Brekker and throw him in the harbor where no one will ever find him." She flinched at that. "Didn't he flee the room you kept him in? I head your guys talking"

"Did he now?" he said pulling away and glancing at his boys. That was all she needed. She elbowed one guy in his gut and he gave away. She lurched forward and broke his nose with her forehead. He doubled over. She picked up her knife and slashed two of them. Two more came but she used the boss, jumped over him, and attacked the other two. The guy on her right had risen, but one swift movement, and she had hit him in the shoulder and numb his arms. She then gashed at another's calf and he fell down. Someone got on her back, but she doubled over, pulled him above, and threw him down, then with a smooth kick, knocked him unconscious. She saw the boss scrawling towards the door and hissed, "Not so soon little guy." She pulled him back, made a rapid motion, and saw drops of blood on his shirt. "That's just a warning," she said holding a blade dangerously near his neck. "Now the business. Who are you? And where is Kaz?"

"I-I own the new pleasure house on the West Stave. Heleen had started taking away my customers hers so I-I needed someone to find me secrets. Leave me, ple-please."

She stared at him for a while examining his features. Something she knew. Something at the back of her mind. She was rummaging through her memories. That's when her eyes narrowed. "What did you say your name was?"

"Ajendro," he stammered. She saw sweat glistening on his forehead.

"You used to come to the menagerie didn't you?" "Some-sometimes..." With one unhesitating motion of her blade, she let the dead soul fall onto the ground, and she joined her home, her shadows. She scaled the walls as easily as you slide on marble. In a quick scan, she found the room Kaz was in. It had the smallest hole in the wall that could be taken as a window but it was all she needed. She quietly slipped inside just to find another dark room. Why they hated lights, she had no idea. This time the moonlight shone through the room illuminating it enough for her to see him though. He lay there motionless. His gloves are still on, she noticed. He had some blood on his face, which meant he had tried fighting his way out. Seeing him like that sent a shiver down her spine. She briskly moved towards him and whispered, Kaz. When he did not seem to respond, she called him again. She called him out a third time and his eyes flickered. "Inej," he murmured. He glanced around the room as if to get a hold of the present. She helped him stand up. "How did they get the Bastard?"

He ignored her and limped to get his cane which was carefully kept in a corner of the room. "How did you get here?"

"It was quite easy. They drugged you right?" Still no response.

"We need to get out now though. There are a lot of people outside." He slightly nodded. She could see he was still hurting. As he walked across the room, she could see his limp had worsened. "Can we take them?"

"Among the two of us, no. I might have a plan though. How's your leg?"

"Good enough to get us out of here"

She opened the door with the slightest click and looked outside. The noise had quietened but the crowd remained. She quietly slipped out and returned in a moment. She looked at him and a mutual understanding passed. Follow me. They slipped out, walking into corridors. He stopped her with her cane when they'd gotten a little far away. "Footsteps," he muttered. They slipped into an empty room in the hall. A huge open window lay open as beams of moonlight entered the room. The sky was clear for once. His hair glistened with sweat and his eyes were like the color of the sky when a storm is brewing. With Kaz, there always is, she thought to herself. She walked towards the window and glanced down. "How good are you with leaps?" she asked him, with a slight smile. He walked to her, looked down, and said "Good enough."

She took out a blade just in case and held out her hand. Hold it, you'll need it. He looked into her moonlit face and reluctantly took it. With that, they both sprung from the second floor of the mansion and into the darkness below.

She wasn't ever going to have a perfect prince. But when she looked into his eyes when they got below, she knew that her fairytale didn't need one.

Credits:

Cover page fanart- @eerna

#six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #ketterdam #hope you like this!#kanej #soc fanfic #kanej fanfic #kanej angst

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