𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 — aye, eye

- NO FURTHER UPDATES UNTIL READERS INTERACT MORE -

━━━━━━━

 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐊𝐒𝐀 𝐀𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 such a gasp that Nina was sent stumbling away while a shriek tore through her throat like a wailing banshee. Aleksa wheezed and coughed, blood still lacing her throat like thick and coagulated syrup, though much less sweet.

 Why was it always him she dreamed of whenever Merzost flooded her veins? Was it just another price to pay for gaining such strength? Just another wound to fester as she lived and breathed?

 Nina scurried straight back towards the table, fluttering like a shaken mother. She planted a cool hand against Aleksa's forehead, then dropped her cheek to Aleksa's almost bare chest, "You're awake. How are you awake? Your heart — it stopped. I thought — Oh Saint's."

 Nina's words were a mad and twisted jumble. The Heartrender had gotten to work the moment Kaz had stopped lingering in the doorway like some perverted creep... but the second Nina raised her hands, trying to assist whatever the hell had been stitching together Aleksa's wounds... The shadow's heart had faltered.

 It had struggled so very hard to thump and thrive, yet within seconds Nina had dissolved into a puddle of tears as she forced the damned thing to move. But Nina hadn't spared a glance at the wounds decorating Aleksa's stomach from the moment she'd forced her heart to beat. She simply couldn't stomach their sight... so when Nina, soothed by the fact that their resident Saint was finally, truly alive and well... she allowed her eyes to stray.

 Nina trailed her eyes down, and there, beneath a large smear of blood... was nothing.

 Black veins still trailed past Aleksa's hips, coiling over her wrists and up to her cheeks... but there were no wounds to be found. No bullet holes, no big gaping crater where the knife had been plunged and twisted. Nothing.

 Nina toppled backwards and into a creaky wooden chair. Her hair was in disarray, her cheeks pink as she wiped away the last of her tears, "I don't understand."

 Aleksa sat upright, batting away Nina's flailing fingers that tried their utmost to push her back down. Aleksa was fine... she could remember the burning pain searing over her flesh from before, but now she was just laced with fatigue. All that was left to recover from was the aftermath of Merzost.

 Aleksa didn't bother to button her shirt, she was certain those aboard the ship had seen a woman's chest and navel. Well, maybe not Matthias and Wylan... but they'd simply have to deal with it like the blushing maidens they were. It wasn't like she'd be parading up to the deck with everything on display, Nina had been a dear and left her with some decency.

 As Aleksa's eyes focused beneath the swaying lamplight, she registered the hand beside her own. Bronze fingers splayed over blood-splotched wood. Inej. She was breathing rather shallowly, her chest struggling to rise and fall... but she was alive.

 "Inej..." Aleksa muttered, brushing away a sweat-slicked strand of hair from her friend's face. The Wraith looked so strange lying there. Aleksa had grown far too used to her smiles, to that divot in her brow whenever she disapproved... which was often. She turned to Nina, "Is she —"

 "— I stabilised her before getting to work on you. Aleksa... you were dying. You — you did die. For a moment there, your heart stopped completely. How are you alive? How did your wounds..."

 Nina looked utterly frazzled.

 Aleksa pushed herself from the table, gripping its edge with her scarlet-stained hand as she stumbled, "I'm just that good, Nina dear."

 Nina folded her arms, swiftly stepping into Aleksa's path. She'd be damned if another person kept another secret from her. Least of all the girl who had died beneath her palms. No, Nina had to know, if only to quell that ache still lingering in her chest... she thought she'd failed.

 "That isn't funny." Nina snapped... but then her brows softened and her hands pushed away the hair gathering at her cheeks, "You're a Shadow Summoner, Aleksa... not a healer. I'm not even a healer, and yet you've done a better job than I ever could."

 "I'll tell you." Aleksa muttered, hands flying to her buttons — perhaps it wouldn't be wise to put the Fjerdan into shock before he even stepped foot into the country he was about to betray... for the second time, "Once we return... deal?"

 "You better not be lying to me."

 "I don't lie. I evade, and I twist, but I don't lie, not to my crows."

 Nina felt a light buzz within her stomach at that. Had it been Kaz Brekker to say such a thing about his crew, she might have vomited and scoffed. Hell she might have made his heart falter for a sweet minute — but to hear it from Aleksa made Nina feel just that little bit less of an outsider.

 "Now," The switch in Aleksa's voice was instantaneous. She could remember everything from the ambush. The explosion, the heat and blisters, the lives she'd taken... and Oomen. She remembered Oomen.

 'I got the Wraith too.' He'd said back on the docks, and those words had been the very thing to spur the shadows forth. She could recall the way his spine had cracked against the crate, the way he'd groaned and grunted upon the cold ground...

 "Did they get Oomen?" Aleksa asked, voice low.

 She could feel the ache in her legs, the way her stomach still tingled where the shadows had eaten away until her wounds had disappeared entirely. She could still feel the weight of Merzost on her shoulders like a thick blanket dragging her down.

 But none of that mattered. If Kaz was the boy she knew him to be — and he was — Oomen would be atop the deck with ropes binding his wrists. He'd be laughing, thinking that he'd killed Dirtyhands' Shadow, thinking that he'd gutted the Wraith.

 Aleksa had to see him... His life wasn't for Kaz to take.

 "Yes, he's..." Nina trailed off, she could spy the look in Aleksa's eyes. She'd seen it in Matthias', whenever he looked at her. Nina sighed, knowing what was to come, but she couldn't find even a hint of desire to stop it. Oomen deserved it, really, "They have him. But you really should be resting."

 "I'm just a little tired, that's all. I'll be just fine."

 "Hm. Bold words from a dead girl."

 "Don't make me haunt you, Zenik."

 "Hold him." Were the first words Aleksa heard as she hobbled from below deck, words from Kaz.

 The remaining crows were scattered about as their hair jostled like feathers within the salted breeze. The night was still cast overhead, darkness edging its way in. The only light to be found were the flickering oil lamps dotted to and fro, each one glaring an ugly yellow glow.

 Kaz's voice had been hard, rough like stone scraping against stone; that was Dirtyhands' voice. It was low and dark, hardly managing to weasel from his throat and through his teeth; the command had been enough for even Matthias to snap into action like a good little soldier.

 The Fjerdan, as well as Jesper, took ahold of Oomen. Aleksa made no move to stop what was about to happen as she lingered on the third step. None of them had yet to spy her; Jesper and Matthias were far too busy holding still a struggling Oomen while Wylan's teeth tore at his nails.

 Kaz, however, flicked his coat sleeve. A small knife dropped into the palm of his gloved hand; an oyster-shucking knife — one that was exactly the same as the tiny little blade stashed within Aleksa's coat. She truly hoped someone had retrieved it from the docks.

 At any given time, Kaz Brekker had at least two knives stashed somewhere within his clothes. Perhaps one in a pocket, one tucked into the waistband of his trousers... Aleksa had even seen one disguised as a tie pin. But this one was hardly a knife. It was more like a needle; tiny yet ever so wicked if you pressed hard enough.

 Aleksa blinked as Kaz slashed a neat line across Oomen's eye — from brow to cheekbone — and before Oomen could ever draw a salted breath to grunt and groan and plead for Dirtyhands to stop, Kaz did it again. He made a second cut in the opposite direction, over the very same eye. A nearly perfect X carved into flesh, exposing nothing but redness beneath... Oomen was screaming, snivelling like a child who'd been reprimanded.

 Aleska leaned heavily against the hatch, revelling in the coolness of the air drifting by. It seemed to carry Oomen's screams, drawing them out for as long as they possibly could... and Aleksa was rather thankful. With each of his cries, the fatigue in her body seemed to dwindle.

 But Kaz wasn't quite done yet; he wiped the blade against his trouser leg. He didn't blink as Oomen continued to cry, as he tucked the knife back into his sleeve. He cocked his head, surveying the blood toppling from the lines. It trickled into the man's eye, and clawed down his cheek. Oomen's own blood dribbled by his lips and onto his tongue.

 Kaz, in a movement so very fast and precise, drove his gloved finger into Oomen's eye socket. The man shrieked until his lungs wheezed, he cried and thrashed in Jesper and Matthias' hold... but with a towering Fjerdan, and a former farmer's boy holding him tight... he couldn't escape.

 Kaz yanked out his eyeball, its base trailing a bloody root. Blood splattered onto Kaz's pale cheekbone, sliding and sliding until a droplet toppled from his chin... and oh, there was just something about that, wasn't there?

 Poor Wylan, however, didn't seem to agree with Aleksa's racing thoughts as he retched and scurried for the ship's edge. He clung as hard as he could, and yet when he turned his face... that was when Kaz tossed the eyeball overboard and shoved a handkerchief into the gushing socket where the eyeball had once resided.

 He grabbed Oomen's jaw with slick and bloodied fingers that left smears on the enforcer's chin.

 Kaz almost snarled, he could feel his lips curl as something within him seemed to break and shatter like a fragile piece of glass. It was white-hot and all-consuming. He'd felt it for only one man before; Pekka Rollins. Brick by brick he'd promised the man... but he promised Oomen something different as he pictured Aleska lying utterly still, no quips and jibes slipping from her silver tongue. No pretty little words that made his stomach positively tremble.

 "Listen to me," He seethed, fingers digging deeper and deeper into Oomen's chin. He could have torn through flesh if he wanted, even with gloves covering his fingers, "You have two choices. You tell me what I want to know, and we drop you at our next port with your pockets full of enough coin to get you sewn up and buy you passage back to Kerch. Or I take the other eye, and I repeat this conversation with a blind man.

 Oomen wept, "It was just a job, Geels got five thousand kruge to bring the Black Tips out in force. We pulled in some Razorgulls, too."

 "Then why not more men? Why not double your odds?"

 "You were supposed to be on the boat when it blew! We were just supposed to take care of the stragglers."

 "Who hired you?"

 Oomen was rendered as nothing more than a snivelling toddler. Snot dripped from his nose, mingling with the blood smothered over his face. His cheeks were red, even beneath his smattering of blood... he was dipping closer and closer to the deck, no energy or ego fuelling him to stand as Matthias and Jesper held him upright.

 Kaz clicked his tongue and the blood on his cheek glinted beneath the moonlight like a blade against his skin, "Don't make me ask again, Oomen, whoever it was can't protect you now."

 "He'll kill me."

 "And I'll make you wish for death, so you have to weigh those options."

 The name that slipped from Oomen's split lip made Aleksa grow cold.

 "Pekka Rollins," Oomen sobbed, "It was Pekka Rollins!"

 Aleksa blinked once, then once again. She could see the way Kaz's back had stiffened, the way his shoulders squared. Even Jesper's features twisted as though he were in pain.

 Wylan stilled, face slowly craning towards the blubbering idiot now that his stomach had been emptied entirely. Matthias, of course, didn't know enough about the man to react accordingly, his blond brow merely rose towards his hairline.

 "Saint's," Jesper groaned, stomping one of his feet, "We are so screwed."

 Kaz spoke through gritted teeth. He felt like his jaw would snap, like he'd crush Oomen's chin beneath his own hand. Pekka Rollins. Of course it had been Pekka fucking Rollins. The name chased him wherever he went; that name had taken Jordie, and now his brother whispered it to him in the dead of night. Would Aleksa do the same? Kaz wondered, would Aleksa curse his name all because Pekka Rollins had been the true cause of her injuries?

 "Is Rollins leading the crew himself?" Kaz asked.

 "What crew?"

 "To Fjerda."

 Oomen shook his head as the blood continued to cascade, as his tears continued to fall, " I don't know about no crew. We were just supposed to stop you from getting out of the harbour. We —" And that's when Oomen's eyes — Eye — found Aleksa.

 Through his tears, through his pain and incessant snivelling, he saw her lurking within the darkness. She'd moved atop the deck... just waiting. Her back was planted against the gunwale of the ship, a few buttons of her shirt were still popped open and the red-smeared fabric fluttered in the breeze like a twisted flag.

 " — You should be dead." Oomen whispered. Even before Kaz had arrived and hauled her into his arms, Oomen had seen the blood... he'd felt it. The puddle had grown so large and infested that it had trailed to his own collapsed frame, "You — You were shot. Stabbed."

 All eyes followed his own.

 Jesper whispered her name, Wylan choked... after all, he'd seen the masses of blood himself before Nina had shooed him away. Matthias blinked as though he'd seen a ghost, then his eyes dropped to the deck where a pitiful trail of crimson was smeared towards the hatch; Aleksa's blood, and the remnants of her faltering life.

 Kaz... Kaz stood there with eyes wider than Aleksa had ever seen them. So many things flickered over his face that she hardly had time to catch them, the one she caught... the one she latched onto with an iron grip and simply refused to let slip from her grasp was... was relief.

 Aleksa took a step, and while she ached and throbbed all over, she managed to keep herself upright. Her back straightened, hands loose by her side... she wouldn't let Oomen see her as anything less than whole as he died.

 "Twice." Aleksa spoke, "I was shot, twice."

 "How —" Oomen stuttered. He could very distinctly remember twisting the knife in her belly like it was a fork gathering up a bundle of noodles. He had felt a splash of blood on his hands, he saw the way her glowing skin had blanched within seconds.

 His answer was laughter. Aleksa tipped her head back, and her hair knotted with her own blood drifted behind her, carried high on the breeze. Jesper thought she looked quite insane as she stalked forth, smiling as blood soaked her from head to toe.

 "You think a bullet could kill me?" Aleksa asked, rather genuinely as the shadows beneath her skin writhed like parasites. As she stepped into the glow of the lamplight, they could all see the coils of darkness etched into her flesh. The way her skin rippled like something was burrowing beneath.

 Wylan retched again, the poor dear.

 Aleksa grasped ahold of her sodden shirt, and when she lifted it, Matthias and Jesper struggled to keep Oomen still. There was nothing. No wound from his knife, no holes from the bullets that had penetrated her body, "Really, Oomen? A knife? You're more of a fool than I thought if you really believe you'd killed me."

 "You were bleeding out!"

 "Mm." Aleksa hummed. But she wasn't here to show off... maybe a little, maybe later, "I recall you saying something to me, before you tried to gut me like a fish."

 Oomen only swallowed as she crept closer and closer like a feline stalking her prey. He suddenly felt very small, very afraid... now he understood. He'd asked her back on the docks why Kaz had kept her close, what made her special... this was it. Oomen was sure that she was the true monster that Kaz Brekker puppeteered with those hidden hands of his.

 They were almost nose to nose when Aleksa stopped, and finally, she could smell somebody else's blood rather than her own, "You hurt Inej, didn't you?"

 He wailed and thrashed, doing anything in his power to run. But Jesper tightened his grip as much as he possibly could... The man in his hold had almost taken two of them, two of the people he cherished ever so dearly.

 As for Matthias, he'd finally caught a glimpse into the inner workings of the crows. They were thieves, thugs... Murderers. But they were a family, a sick and twisted family. So, Matthias Helvar remained still.

 Aleksa held out a hand. Her knives had been plucked from her body, likely stashed in the surgeon's cabin. Her bow and arrow rested beside Wylan, but Aleksa wanted to see Oomen's face up close. Without a word, Kaz had slipped his oyster-shucking knife into her palm... and she certainly savoured the way his gloved fingers dragged along her own as they retreated.

 Oomen jolted as the knife struck the flesh just below his ribs.

 "Just here, wasn't it? That's where you got her." Aleksa hissed, pushing the knife deeper and deeper until the little hilt was pressed ever so close to his skin. It was only a small knife, and the damage done simply wasn't enough to satisfy that sweet and dark little craving within the pits of her gullet.

 Aleksa turned on her heel and a horrific jolt lurched through her stomach. She paused, swallowed, and took another step, "That was for Inej... This, however..."

 When Aleksa faced him once more, the lines carved upon her flesh had only grown darker, impossibly so. The shadows were clambering through her veins, begging to be freed, begging to take the life of the person who'd harmed her... they were sweet little things, really they were.

 Oomen shrieked as Aleksa spread her arms wide, and twisted her hands so that her blood-soaked palms were facing the twilight hung high above them. The shadows hidden away like monsters under a child's bed came calling. They scuttled forth, billowing waves of smoke crawling along the deck... and Oomen only screamed louder.

 Aleksa brought her hands closer and closer, until the shadows began to gather between them, right in front of her chest. She caressed them, moving her hands through the air in such a soft and gentle manner, it almost looked foreign on her twsited features.

 The shadows coiled and twisted. They rumbled and buzzed like insects... and then they started to condense right before her eyes. One by one the tendrils of darkness clung to each other like a vice, and slowly and ever so steadily... a blade began to form.

 "This one is for me," Aleksa whispered. She didn't know if Nina had told her darling crows what had happened to her, how her heart had faltered and come to a stop before Merzost took pity and accelerated her healing enough so that she could draw breath once more... no. She couldn't have. Oomen would have been dead already.

 The man, her target, babbled and cried. His feet pounded against the deck, anything to get him away from the blood-covered demon conjuring a blade out of thin air.

 "Let him go," Aleksa's voice was calmer than the stagnant ocean waves as she directed her eyes between both Jesper and Matthias. They hesitated... but eventually dropped their holds. Oomen slumped to the ground, his knees colliding with the neck, palms filled with splinters, "Go on then, Beg."

 "What?" Oomen sobbed.

 The lamplight was almost devoured entirely as thunder clapped high above. Oomen flinched as she hissed, "Beg."

 "Please! I was just doing my job!"

 But it wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough.

 Hearing his whining voice sent a jolt through her skull, hearing his sobbing only made the blade within her grasp waver, as though ready to lurch forth on its own accord. His job had been to blow up the schooner. But he'd made it far more personal than it needed to be.

 He'd sounded ecstatic when he'd whispered of Inej. Of the pain he'd inflicted.

 Aleksa sighed, "Wylan?"

 The boy swallowed, brushing away his ruddy curls, "Yes?"

 Aleksa jutted her head to the horizon, the way the ocean glistened beneath the moon like icicles beneath shimmering waves of sunlight, "You may wish to look at the view."

 Wylan almost argued then, he was almost going to step in and plead for Oomen's life... but then he thought of the blood he'd seen. He thought of Nina's utter panic when she had two dying girls relying on her powers.

He didn't want to see the inevitable, so Wylan Van Eck twisted his head, eyes cast on the ocean and not one retort lingered on his tongue, "It is nice tonight."

 "No!" Oomen bellowed, fists pounding against the deck, blood still seeping from his empty eye socket, "No! Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

 "Inej would ask me to show you mercy."

 "Yes! Please!"

 "Unfortunately for you, the Wraith is down there, and I am up here."

 Then, the air between them was sliced in two.

 Aleksa made no cry or grunt as she thrust her powers forth. She didn't stumble whilst Oomen's eye was still boring into her flesh. In less than a heartbeat... Oomen was cut into two very uneven pieces. The top of his head thunked to the ground, its contents spilling and sloshing like soup in a bowl... then his body clattered to the ground, and whatever remained within his opened cranium spilled, a glob of flesh rolling like a ball over the deck.

 "Oh, Saints!" Jesper heaved, and he could no longer find it within him to tease Wylan's weak stomach, for he felt his own dinner trying to force its way back out.

 Matthias stepped back, narrowly avoiding a hunk of flesh from landing atop his boot. His head turned away, glacier-blue eyes finding the flag rippling high above the Ferolind.

 Kaz made no move. He didn't step away as a bone popped free and toppled next to his shoe. Nor did he falter when a violent gush of blood caked his trouser leg. No, his eyes were on Aleksa, watching how she finally let herself topple.

 He knew he'd never make it in time, his leg was in the utmost agony. So he grabbed Jesper's roughspun jacket and pushed him forth.

 The lanky Zemini stumbled for a moment, yet when he caught Aleksa, he was as still and steady as a tree, "Bug?" He whispered.

 Aleksa was fine. Really, she was. She lay there as Jesper cradled her head in his hands, as Kaz slowly stepped closer and closer, now leaning on his cane.

 "I'm —" Aleksa wheezed. The use of small science had helped; it had already brought colour back to her cheeks, a shine and glimmer to her eyes and blood-caked hair. Still, using Merzost to seal her wounds and start her heart once more had been a lot. Summoning the nichevo'ya was tiring, but it felt quite similar to shaping the shadows in the same manner she had as a child.

 "Don't say you're alright."

 "Just tired."

 "Promise?" Jesper cradled her with just one arm as he brought a hand before her face. His finger curled inwards, leaving only his pinky standing upright.

 Aleksa grinned, wide and true, it was enough to settle Jesper's racing heart. She curled her pinky around his own, "Promise."

 Aleksa supposed it was odd to them all, to witness the things she'd learned in her time away, the things she hadn't ever had the playground to use when she'd been with them before. She could never quite stretch out her legs in Ketterdam, always having to keep the shadows rather silent and at bay.

 Now, on the open sea with a crew that wouldn't dare speak a word after what they'd just witnessed — though they wouldn't have spoken a word before such theatrics... for Kaz Brekker had threatened to relieve them of their tongues and teeth — Aleksa could finally reach out.

 Perhaps keeping Merzost to a minimum would be beneficial... but sometimes Aleksa couldn't help but wonder if using it more would mean growing used to it. Or perhaps it would turn her skin and bones obsidian for all eternity.

 She'd suit it. She'd suit anything... but perhaps it was best not to dabble.

 Aleksa blinked at the moon glaring down upon her; she could sense the chittering shadows lurking in the corners, slithering over the deck in an attempt to soothe the tiredness encasing her body... the use of the cut had helped, the use of such a large amount of her Grisha power made her skin glow brighter than the moon above, it made her cheeks pink once more... though, perhaps that was actually just the blood.

 Kaz approached then, his cane clicking as he did. His eyes stooped, peering down at her over the bridge of his pretty curled nose. She'd meant the last words she'd spoken as she bled out in his arms. He really was so obscenely lovely to stare at.

 It was quite unfair, really, for even with blood drying on his cheekbones, he was a delight.

 Kaz rose a single brow at her grin, he waited a tick, and then she spoke just as he'd expected, "Sorry about the mess."

 "Jesper will clean it."

 Jesper made a strangled sound, "I will?"

 "Thanks, Jes, you're a dear." Aleksa cooed, laughing softly when Jesper batted away the fingers pinching his cheek, "Well... we can't ask Wylan, he looks about ready to expel his own organs."

 Wylan turned at the mention of his name and very distinctly noticed how each and every one of them grimaced at the sight of him. His copper curls clung to the sweat pooling on his freckled skin. His cheeks were so white... That they were almost green.

 He was going to argue, but then his eyes saw the body Aleksa had sliced with the ease of a knife gliding through butter.

 He vomited again.

 Kaz sighed. His crew was a mismatched one. Matthias still teetered on that line, ready to betray them at a moment's notice. Wylan couldn't speak without his intestines trying to sliver up his throat like coiling snakes, and Jesper... surprisingly Jesper Fahey was the only one standing on his own two feet without a care in the world.

 Kaz tightened his fingers around his glinting cane, watching how his gloves snuffed out the moonlight that had been glossing over the beak, "Nina said you were healing your own wounds, care to explain how?"

 Aleksa shuffled, planting her backside on the cold deck. Jesper finally released her when he was sure she wouldn't manage to toss herself into the ocean waves, "No." She said, "Not really."

 Jesper snorted, but Kaz wasn't quite as amused, "You almost died."

 I did die. She swallowed. But her bright and cheerful facade came back in a burst, "Please, pretty boy, I'd never let a Black Tip kill me. That's far too embarrassing."

 "You aren't funny in the slightest."

 "Nonsense, I can see how hard you're trying not to grin at me." Aleksa heaved herself up, and much to her surprise — and Matthias' — the Fjerdan was the one to steady her, "Oh, thank you, druskelle."

 What? Aleksa might have wanted to hover him over some flames until he was cooked just to perfection... or perhaps toss him overboard and see if the Fjerdans really were good swimmers, but she at least had some manners. One good thing to come from the Black Heretic, she supposed.

 Matthias only grunted in turn, snatching his hand away as though she'd bitten it and tainted his skin with deadly and all-consuming poison.

 "Look," She sighed, brushing a hand through knotted locks of hair, "I'm alive, the bullet wounds are gone, and there's no knife stuck in my belly, isn't that enough?"

 Kaz's reply was instantaneous, and very much expected, "No."

 "That's not my problem..." Then Aleksa set her sights on the mutilated body slumped on the deck. Blood would have started to crawl its way through the wooden deck by now, and they'd soon have to toss it overboard... But that wasn't a problem at all, she'd tossed worse things into the sea.

 Still, what Oomen had said, had stuck with her. Pekka Rollins had been the one to hire the Black Tips to snuff them out... so he must have found out about Bo Yul-Bayur. Would he send his own team to haul the man back?

 Aleksa looked at Kaz, his sharp edges highlighted by the moon scowling down at them. It always came back to Pekka, didn't it? Aleksa still wasn't exactly privy to why Kaz hated the man with every ounce of his being... but she knew whatever had happened, must have been the worst of the worst.

 Kaz sought revenge quickly. He liked to strike like a hissing viper; but with Pekka, things were slow. They were drawn out. It was like Kaz was biding his time; he slowly weaselled his way into Pekka's life by stealing his patrons and intercepting his shipments... but those, really, were all petty things. Things that were leading to something bigger, Aleksa just knew it.

 She hated the look on his face when Pekka Rollins was mentioned, but she needed his gaze off her back; she wasn't exactly sure how her beloved crows would react to her use of forbidden power only spoken of in children's tales.

 Plus, they really did need to figure out what the hell Pekka was up to.

 "Well, seeing as I'm not divulging my secrets, you little vulture," She winked at Kaz, delighted by his bitter-as-coffee eye roll, "What exactly are we going to do about..."

 She didn't even have to say the name, for Kaz scowled immediately.

 Pekka Rollins. The name rattled through Kaz's head like the pop of gunfire. It always came back to Pekka Rollins, the man who had taken everything from him. The man who now stood between him and the biggest haul any crew had ever attempted.

 Kaz tapped his cane against the deck, eyes cast to the body, "Jesper, Matthias will help you toss that one overboard... then you can fit Helvar with some shackles to keep him honest."

 "Mhm," Jesper drawled, "Would you like a cup of tea, too?"

 "Water."

 "I was kidding."

 "I wasn't," Kaz replied, ignoring the little huff that tumbled from Jesper's pouted lips. He began to walk away, his leg aching and his cane clicking... He had told himself he'd speak with Aleksa, properly. He'd... he'd... he'd what? What would he have said? That he'd been worried? That he wanted her to stay by his side?

 No. He couldn't. He just couldn't do that... because then what? What happens next?

 Kaz left with a final scowl directed towards the sky but even amidst her disappointment that he hadn't once seen to her... Aleksa heard him mutter one final thing, one thing she'd heard time and time again.

 Brick by brick.

━━━━━━━

DATE: 16/11/2023

:･ﾟ★ sorry but I'm a comedian for that chapter title. bit of a longer one to make up for last chap, a LOT of girlbossing, mhm, aleksa is the moment. (sorry again, wylan)

also yes, that little note at the beginning is true; after having a break i came back to people leaving comments on my message board, asking for updates, i came back to people DM'ing me, essentially demanding updates... and yet when i give one, hardly anybody interacts? yikes.

please remember to leave feedback & comments. i require a certain number of comments before i publish the next update. please give me a follow to keep updated and receive sneak peeks! do not leave 'update' comments, you will be muted.