GRISHAVERSE X READERS

A MEMORY [KAZ BREKKER]

Characters: Y/N (female), Kaz Rietveld/Brekker, Jordie Rietveld (mentioned), Pekka Rollins (mentioned), Inej Ghafa and Jesper Fahey

A/N: I usually don't do oneshots out of drabble requests but sometimes it slips 🤭 I hope you like it!

Warnings: alcohol consumption, mentions of death, angst, Kaz is in his 20's because of Freddy, also I mentioned some stuff from the books even though I haven't read the books (yet) but I have researched a lot!

Summary: Y/N thought her childhood best friend died during the Plague, but after she comes back to Ketterdam, she encounters a surprise.

Word count: 1.8k

You remember trying to run after Kaz as he had been loaded to the carriage to be taken away. The authorities tried to tell you that your friend is dead, taken away by the Plague, they were holding you in place to protect you from getting infected. But you just knew he wasn't dead. They hadn't looked at him hard enough. You screamed at them like a banshee, making everyone know about your rage and agony, and only after the carriage was too far away for you to see, you sunk on your knees, wailing on the ground, cursing the cruel world. Kaz and his brother were taken away from your life, making you walk alone. Jordie dying was bad already, but you could have had Kaz by your side, you would have been children but you would have stayed together, survived together.

You couldn't stay in Ketterdam after all what had happened, and found work from an elderly couple at the other side of Kerch, at a small, remote farm. You worked for them as a maid, helping with their food, crops and animals and played with their grandchildren. They were good for you, kind, caring, like your grandparents you never knew. They knew about your past, about your encounter with Pekka Rollins and how it ultimately had led to you losing the only family you ever knew, two brothers who you just had happened to run into all those years ago and immediately bonded with Kaz. How you had felt like you had a real family for the first time ever. How you had experienced your first crush with Kaz. The first boy you ever held hands with and have your heart racing, the first boy you had given a kiss on his cheek as a promise to always be with him. And how you couldn't keep that promise. They had reassured you, made you stop blaming yourself for what happened. The Plague mercilessly struck everyone it encountered, and that Kaz would be glad that you survived. It took many sleepless nights and you sleeping next to them because of nightmares, but ultimately nightmares eased out, almost stopped, and you could finally be at peace.

But after the couple had passed away after you had worked for them for over fifteen years, you left the farm. Their children tried to offer their home to you as a token of gratitude of taking so good care of them in their last years, saying that you were just as important to them as their biological grandchildren were, but you couldn't take it. You had to face your demons from your childhood, return to Ketterdam, finally say your goodbyes and let go of Kaz and Jordie before leaving Kerch, settling to somewhere else, starting an entirely new life.

But little had you known that you'd stumble to a sign of a crow above a building - a crow that you recognized had been made from your little sketches you scribbled of crows as you and Kaz had sat at the alleyway feeding them, or at least it very much looked like that. Had someone found your sketches? So of course, you were intrigued to see what was up.

"We're closed!" you heard a man yell as you stepped in, and you flinched in surprise.

"I'm sorry... I just wanted to ask you if-" your sentence was cut short as you saw a man with a cane approaching you, a Zemeni boy and Suli girl close behind. And the moment you saw his eyes, it struck right through you.

Kaz?

He was older, had a different posture and if you had seen him from afar, you wouldn't have recognized him, maybe been a bit intimidated. But you'd recognize those eyes anywhere. You had gotten lost in them in your childhood dream cotton candy castles so many times that you'd never forget the shape or the exact color of them. There was no mistaking it.