IGNORANTIA (Dark Academia!Wesper AU)

negentien

A/N: In this chapter, Sturmhond/Nikolai mentions the r/pe convictions against his father in the Shadow and Bone series. While the SA itself is not joked about, Nikolai does use dark humor as a way to cope with it. If this is triggering and/or offensive to anyone, please (politely) message me and I will rewrite that section of this chapter. I mean no genuine harm to anyone. Be safe y'all x

Sturmhond's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "A fight already? I don't know whether I should be offended or enthralled at all this attention."

Ignoring him, the women don't hesitate to attack. Commander Nazyalensky flings herself at the nearest attacker — a man a head taller and twice her size — and throws a fatal kick into their throat. Genya takes two men down with the flick of her wrists as Nina sweeps someone's feet out from underneath them. It's a brawl alright. The opposing gang shouts in defiance as they begin their offense. It should be an unfair fight with three against twenty, but somehow the Grisha manage to keep up. Meanwhile Sturmhond swears underneath his breath as he draws out two twin pistols from his teal leather coat. My heart pangs a bit to see it as I think of Jesper.

It's an all-out battle between the rogues, Grisha, and whatever malicious and wild deity this Sturmhond guy appears to be. There's shouting coming from all corners, and I fearfully watch as a man tries to run towards me. Without any proper tools to protect myself with, I do the only thing I can do in the moment: run. The man comes at me with what appears to be a mace as he gives out a howling war cry. I leap over a table just as the man's cries stop. I turn to look behind me and watch as Inej pins the man against the table. They both pant like wild dogs as they stare at each other.

"Inej? Is that you?" The man asks.

She looks just as confused as I feel. "Todge? What are you—"

Some poor bastard flies into a table, breaking it in the process. It only takes me a second to recognize the fallen man as Sturmhond. He glares up at the figure who threw him just as a black cane pins Sturmhond's chest against the splintered table.

Suddenly the entire room goes quiet as everyone watches. Zoya and Genya try to raise their hands to attack Kaz Brekker, but Nina shouts at them to stop. She struggles to manhandle the two women, but apparently it's just enough to make them pause. Her brown hair has fallen out of her braided bun in thick strands that now cast shadows across her cheeks. She gestures towards the scene in the middle of the room as they all pant from the excursion.

"Pirate," Kaz spits.

Sturmhond has the audacity to cringe. "Privateer."

"What did you do to my Wraith?"

"Kaz Brekker, is that really what all of this is about?" Inej calls out. The whole room practically swerves to look at her, and by Ghezen she looks disappointed. It's possibly the harshest feeling a person can emote, and her disappointment stings like acid. "You sent a whole group of Dregs for this?"

Bless the Saint that is Inej, because somehow she manages to make Kaz Brekker become embarrassed. Duddenly he's just a teenager again, and oh, even he seems to know what having a teenage crush is like. So maybe he's not as heartless as he may seem.

I look over at Nina, and she looks at me, and we can both feel it in our bones. Deliriously, I have to contain the urge to laugh at how ridiculous this situation is. Nina looks like she has to, too. I get the feeling that me and her are going to become good friends after all of this is through.

"I didn't know where you were," Brekker says to Inej.

"I don't owe you an explanation to any of my actions," says Inej. Her hands rest on her hips like a mother scolding a child. "You made your choice not to help Jesper, and here I am making making up for it."