One-Shots // Book Compilation

• Jesper x Wylan •

TITLE: A Crow Never Forgets
WORDS: 4,313
COMPLETED: 6/30/21
UNIVERSE: Six of Crows // Leigh Bardugo

Nothing was going according to plan. Was there even a plan? Honestly, Wylan wasn't sure. Kaz probably had a plan, but none of the other Crows knew what it was. And this probably wasn't following the plan. After all, Wylan couldn't remember the last time that one of Kaz Brekker's plans didn't involve any form of stealth.

Perhaps Wylan had some explaining to do...

If Wylan was being honest, it had been all his idea. He had explained to the Crows that he'd like to go back to his dad's mansion and gather some of his belongings; things like sheet music, pictures, paintings, and just some sentimental items. Kaz shot the idea down immediately, claiming that marching onto enemy territory wasn't the best plan, and Wylan understood. However, the other four Crows claimed that they should go. After all, Jan Van Eck wasn't going to be in town due to merchant business and Alys Van Eck was out of town receiving some vocal lessons from a school abroad in Fjerda. It was the perfect window.

"Okay, we just grab some of Wylan's things and then get out," Kaz explained while lockpicking the large front gate, opening it and allowing the Crows to run through. They were hidden under the cover of darkness, the sky a smoggy black due to the amount of pollution that Ketterdam exfoliated.

Inej scaled up the side of the building, sliding a second story window open and slyly pulling herself into the mansion. Afterwards, she made her way down the steps, unlocking and opening the front door from the inside. She motioned for the Crows to enter, each one of them taking a moment to stare at all of Jan Van Eck's priceless and plentiful belongings. The whole foyer was filled to the brim with valuable and expensive items; anything from vases, to statues, to portraits, to glassware, to figurines, to tiny coins. Everything in the merchant's home was placed in order to impress company with his wealth. Unfortunately for him, his current visitors were the most dangerous criminals in Ketterdam.

"Look at this! It's stunning," Nina spoke up, pointing to a gorgeous red vase that had been finely crafted and encrusted with rubies. The red pottery was opulent, displaying many gemstones and quite the array of details.

Wylan tilted his head as he examined the vase that he'd seen in his father's foyer many times before. He always hated it. It was too much and seemed to selfishly draw attention to itself. Sure, it was made of expensive materials, but that didn't mean it was beautiful. Wylan tended to spot beauty in broken things; in Ketterdam, in his mother, in the Barrel, in the Crows, in Jesper Fahey. However, beauty in his father's eyes was something opulent and functional, working the way it was intended to. This is why Wylan would never be valuable to his father; that was the harsh reality of the situation.

Taking careful steps towards the vase, the Crows watched him with worried eyes; almost as if they believed him to be reminiscing on his time living with his father as his heir. They couldn't be more wrong. Wylan's brain was consumed in thoughts of how twisted and manipulative Jan Van Eck had truly been. How unloving and unkind he'd been towards his son's learning deficiency. At the end of the day, Wylan had still been his son. But that didn't matter; apparently that had never mattered to the wealthy merchant.

He wasn't sure why he did it, but afterwards he was so beyond glad that he had. Stark white fingers belonging to the merchling grabbed onto one of the ruby handles, dragging the pottery towards him. Rather than catching it, Wylan allowed the priceless artifact to fall onto the tiled floor and shatter into millions of unfixable pieces. Silence loomed over the six Crows after the initial loud crash of the vase breaking, the other five looking between one another with worry. Jesper held Kaz's gaze, the two boys seeming to be thinking the same thing: Wylan was not okay. Meanwhile, Wylan kept his glare transfixed on the shards of red pottery that was scattered across the once clean floor; the merchling smiled.