✨ DARK PARADISE ✨ Kaz✖️OC.

Honesty is a one-way gate to hell

Standing in the clock tower, Kaz surveyed his crew. Dawn would come soon and they would go their separate ways: Wylan and Colm to an empty bakery. Nina to the Barrel with her assignments in hand. Aeolian to the Church of Barter to take up her position on the roof. Kaz, Matthias and Kuwei would let the stadwatch troop escort them into the church.

He felt more himself than he had in days. The ambush at Van Eck's house had shaken him. He hadn't been ready for Pekka Rollins to reenter the field on those terms. He hadn't been prepared for the shame of it, for the memories of Jordie that had returned with such force.

You failed me. His brother's voice, louder than ever in his head. You let him dupe you all over again.

Kaz had called Jesper by his brother's name. A bad slip. But maybe he'd wanted to punish them both. Kaz was older now than Jordie had been. Now he could look back and see his brother's pride, his hunger for fast success. You failed me, Jordie. You were older. You were supposed to be the smart one.

He thought of Aeolian asking, Was there no one to protect you? He remembered Jordie seated beside him on a bridge, smiling and alive, the warmth of a cup of hot chocolate cradled in his mittened hands. We were supposed to look out for each other.

They'd been two farm boys, missing their father, lost in this city. That was how Pekka got them. He'd given them a new home. A fake wife who made them hutspot, a fake daughter for Kaz to play with. Pekka Rollins had lured them with a warm fire and the promise of the life they'd lost.

And that was what destroyed you in the end: the longing for something you could never have.

He scanned the faces of the people he had fought beside, bled with. He'd lied to them and been lied to. He'd brought them into hell and dragged them out again.

Kaz settled his hands over his cane, his back to the city. "We all want different things from this day. Freedom, redemption_"

"Cold hard cash?" suggested Jesper.

"Plenty of that. There are lots of people looking to stand in our way, and most of this Saintsforsaken town." Kaz said.

"Is this supposed to be encouraging?" asked Nina.

"They don't know who we are. Not really. They don't know what we've done, what we've managed together." Kaz rapped his cane on the ground. "So let's go show them they picked the wrong damn fight."

After they all dispersed, Kaz followed Aeolian down the metal stairs. Her raven black hair was loose, she was letting it air dry.

"Are you going to say something? Or keep on following me?" Aeolian finally spoke.

Kaz didn't know what to say or how to react at that moment, she stopped on her track and turned around. "Spill..."

He said the first thing that came to his mind, "you left, while I was asleep."

She almost chuckle. "I've never seen you so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you."

"I was tired." He admitted.

"You had exhausted yourself," she said. "I'm glad, you got the rest you needed."