Six of Crows One-shots

Black of pain, of loss, of loneliness, of death, and of COST

...Tear us back to our roots, wear us till we are threadbare. We will still stand beside one another, even if all there is to rule is empty space. Because Kings and Queens we are, in and out, night and day. But your just a ghost of a familiar face, how can I know if it's really you I speak to or a mask you wear? Darling, I'm staring death in the face. We will meet again, in another place. I'm willing to give so much for a few more moments to cherish beside you. I will be beside you, even when you can't see or feel me there. If I pay with my life, would it be enough to keep your hand in mine? If I time this right, we can have the world in the palm of our hands. Are you hearing me? I can practically hear them screaming. Chanting and waving, we will become saviors in the light, if I go now and do this one thing. I lay in wait, but the longer you take, the further my soul decomposes. What if this war isn't worth fighting anymore? Don't let go, don't loose sight of our hopes. I have lost my sight, I'm alone, your voice a memory, where did you go?.....

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Kaz could only think. A puzzle was a welcome distraction so he concentrated on the pieces like he never had before. This was how he coped, with the blinding pain he wouldn't think about it and it would go away. Instead, he focused his brain on the mystery of his predicament. How had Oomen gotten back? And how was he so easily defeated by him? It was probably shock for the latter, he hadn't really been thinking, surprised at the face he thought he would never see again. It had been an hour, he had been alone for this hour, blood squelching from the hole where one of his eyes use to lay, now a black cave. He was pretty sure half of his bones were broken and he had an 'x' drawn across his chest, deep enough to make it hard to breathe. He bit back a whimper and shivered, scolding himself for his wondering thoughts and returning to the first problem. He had dipped the scarecrow-come-to-life into the ocean after removing his eye. The boy was very much alive but there was too much ocean to swim and he was bleeding badly so he figured the sharks would get him. A ship must have found him, it was the only explanation.

"Times up, pretty boy!" Snickered a nasty voice, speak of the devil. "You think I'm pretty?" Kaz croaked hoarsely with a signature crooked grin. He earned a kick to his fractured ribs, his breath leaving him in a gasp. "I don't hear you denying it..." Kaz wheezed out, rolling onto his back in pain. Oomen leaned down, his hands on his knees. "Eh. You could have been if you weren't so maimed." He sneered, Kaz shrugged. "I hear scars are the new thing. Decide to get a few, the whole rugged look seems to be the new trend of the season. Some tailors are getting rich making fake scars for soft sobs." Oomen growled, seeing past Kaz's easy smiles to the taunts behind each word. I'm still here, still undefeated. Still have my spirit, you haven't broke me. Kaz felt a presence sweep in, a different silence, one that was unnaturally filled with emotions, Oomen would never notice the change in the air like Kaz would. He choked out a raspy laugh barely above a whisper, dark and twisted, eyes gleaming madly. "What the hell?" Oomen wondered out loud. Kaz lowered his head to the ground and muttered. "Mercy is coming.... To plead your case..." he was in so much pain, he couldn't think reasonably, he lost too much blood in the past hour. He needed to sleep. But he enjoyed the last flickers of his view as Oomen started freaking out and searching the shadows. "Run, scarecrow, run..." the crows have learned your trick and come to feast, they have nothing to fear but you aren't in the same boat, no not in the least. The words chased Kaz into the abyss of his dreams.

Inej watched as Oomen whipped around, his only eye scouring the room madly for any sight of her. She wasn't worried, he wouldn't find her. However, she was worried about Kaz who had just blacked out on the floor, covered in his own blood and on his hand which was tightly chained to the wall was a glassy orb with a pink tendril wrapped around his fingers. His eye. Inej thought, feeling nausea try to consume her, she gripped tighter onto the support beam before leaping down onto the panicking Oomen with anger burning in her heart, stronger than when she faced down her slavers of saw someone enter the Menagerie. Yes, Kaz had ripped out his eye and this was him getting even, but Kaz didn't make him hold onto it. Show it off like a trophy, what would Kaz do with it? Would he want to throw it away? Then again it was a part of him, if someone could attach his eye again... Inej broke his bones till he could barely move and then she slashed marks into his knobby frame. Kaz had gone off on the Blacktip because of Inej. Of what he did to her, he should have died, Kaz shouldn't have his eye wrapped in his hand. A part of Inej wanted to cry out, another thanked he only took one and a second part screamed that it was all her fault. Had she not left she would have been beside Kaz when it took place, be able to ground him and save him and Kaz would still have both his shiny topaz eyes then turned shark black when mad, but Inej was more than mad, more than enraged. It was a feeling indescribable by words, a hate and a guilt combination twinged with sadness that made like an atomic bomb to Inej's heart.

Finally Oomens breath whispered away and he was dead. Inej stood up, she wanted to get rid of the scrawny fleabag but as much as she wanted him out of sight and face burned so as to never see again, she needed to make sure Kaz was alright. She thought back, glad she followed her hunch. She was sitting in the crow club, watching Jesper and Wylan as they talked about with different Dregs members. She then noticed a familiar face and her breath caught, she slunk into the shadows before he could spot her. Oomen, the one she thought to be dead, drank and spread rumors that Kaz Brekker was dead, that he killed him and would bring them the body tomorrow. Some laughed out right, some swore that Oomen was going to get chewed out by the Bastard and left to die, and some of them- their eyes glittered with hunger and hope, for power and Kaz's money. It made Inej sick, these were his own men and they were split evenly. She was ready to dispose of them when Oomen finished his drink, brushed his hands and left, Inej followed him while silently fuming, hoping he led her to Kaz and not a brothel. But as he closed the door behind him to a nice boathouse for the rich, Inej hesitated, just a moment. What will I find? Kaz's dead body? Him perfectly fine or watching as Oomen skinned him alive. Inej jerked as she realized she had no time to hesitate, she entered to hear Kaz's two sarcastic comebacks. Inej mentally cursed him for not shutting up and keeping himself safe.

Inej leaned down to inspect Kaz's wounds closer, she noticed the several tears and cuts, he nearly looked as bad as Oomen, Inej thought miserably. She started to pick the shackles and Kaz was still out cold, he should regain conscious soon, or so she hoped. Inej paused, looking down at his chest and blushed as she realized in order to see how bad Kaz's ribs were, she would need to get the bloodied and tattered piece of clothing off. Inej sent a silent prayer that she wouldn't traumatize Kaz more, hurt him, get him to hate her or get hurt by him as she reached a tentative hand toward the first button of his shirt, her hand shaking ever so slightly. She gently pulled it out of the hole and then let it go, she could hear his steady breathing and Inej once again felt like she was doing something wrong while the logical side of her brain was screaming at her to move quicker or she would loose him, the emotional side wanted to ask his permission and do it slowly so as not to wake him. "Saints help me! I'm an ididot." Inej spat at herself, following a more logical strategy of easily sliding the buttons away till she pulled the fabric off, trying harder not to blush but didn't need to as soon as her eyes focused on the wounds. Around his ribs was discoloration and bruises, blue and purple blooming in a way that made Inej fearful. He had several large gashes and open wounds that were bleeding quicker then Inej realized. She looked around frantically for any sort of rag or cleaning supplies she could use to better clean his wounds.

Inej's eyes narrowed as she saw a kitchen area with a cabinet open below and a cleaning bucket with what looked to be supplies sticking out of it. The cabinet was just below the sink which dripped ever so slightly, telling Inej it had running water and then she looked and found a cabinet of alcohol. She looked back at Kaz once with worry before spirinting over to the supplies, she picked up the bucket and scoffed as all the things in it were new. "What is it with barrel rats and an unwillingness to clean?" Inej grumbled, grabbing onto the clean towelette, it was rough despite being new but she knew it was better than nothing. Inej turned on the water which after a few clinking noises did come on. She whispered a prayer only to wait for the water to heat a little, keeping a finger in the stream to check the temperature but it only got colder. "Unwilling to clean and cheap.." Inej grumbled, running the cloth through the cold gushing stream under the faucet. "Got lots running for you there, don't you?" She asked he corpse with a glare. Inej turned off the faucet and grabbed a bottle of alcohol before running back to Kaz she didn't want to start on his chest in hopes he would freak out as much, so she dabbed at his bruised cheek, she jolted back as his eye snapped open and flicked around a little till it found her, the black hole of where the other use to lay gaping at her. My fault, my fault, my fault... "Inej?"

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