The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

27. Kaz

A/N: Hi! I almost forgot to post today, even I'm not that cruel to leave people hanging... yet.  How was Valentine's Day for you all? I was a strong leader of the Single Pringle gang, and I'm proud. 😌 Have a good day/night, and happy late Valetine's day! <3

The dark was crisp and cool, and though the nights in Ketterdam lasted well into morning usually, even the hungriest of Barrel rats had sunken back into their hobbles. There was no moon, and the rare streetlamps that were lit flickered against a non-existent wind. It was the night of ghosts and ghouls, and it was on these rare nights that Kaz Brekker finally decided to sleep.

As he let the cool sheets flow below his skin, Kaz considered the day that had passed. Wylan and Jesper had settled back into the Crow Club safely, and even the most curious of Dregs knew to stay away. Scales was still a problem, but the whole damn city was full of those, so what was one more?

His thoughts were only just subsiding, and the pillow below him was just becoming tempting when noise pierced the air around him, shattering the dull quiet of the night. Kaz groaned; this had been happening for the past few nights, but he hadn't bothered to check. It was just another young Dreg living his worst nightmares in his sleep.

It was one thing that united all of Ketterdam; nightmares. The city of dreams and hopeful possibilities was merely a mask that hid its true intentions, and nightmares were like diseases. Kaz had at least three every night, and those he remembered and woke up for he could easily cover up. Screaming would not make them go away; more sleep would.

Kaz waited for this set of horror to fade away back into the dullness of sleep, or the fitfullness of a failure to do so, but they did not. The shrieks wouldn't stop, and they were purely filled with terror. Kaz sat up begrudgingly and as he did the screams melted from terror to pain. It was a shame no one had told him when he was learning to be a Barrel Boss that he would also have to babysit.

The hallway was dark and shadowed, but clean, just like Kaz liked it to be. A dirty base would not solve anyone's problems, plus it meant he could easily navigate it in the dark, even without his cane. His gloves had been abandoned as well, since he found the most effective way to wake a person was a swift kick.

The sound took him across the Crow Hallway, specially reserved for the Crows. Kaz was surprised; nightmares from this part of the Club were rare indeed. Eventually he came to the source of the fatigued agony pelting across the building. Kaz stiffened. He knew which room this belonged to.

Kaz didn't hesitate to burst through the door, annoyance at being awoken replaced by deep fear. The window of the small room was open, and the drab curtains fluttered like butterflies. For a moment he thought someone had snuck in and that was what had caused the terror, but a quick scan of the room proved otherwise.

Wylan writhed across the soft sheets of his bed, his body arching as his shrieks filled the room. He sounded like a wounded animal whimpering away from death, and it shook Kaz to the bone. Usually he was able to down at the screams of his victims with ease, but he couldn't stop these. They were real, and they were right in front of him. He needed them to stop. Now.

Hastily Kaz marched to the bed, wincing as he watched Wylan cry out in invisible pain. "Wylan. Merchling, wake up." He gave him a light kick. It proved futile.

"Get up, Wylan!" Kaz hissed, desperately trying to shake him awake. It seemed to be working, until Kaz's bare hand grazed Wylan's arm. He froze, feeling the cold sweat on Wylan's skin, how it felt so much like grimy water, how the bed seemed to have suddenly turned into an ocean, how Wylan was no longer Wylan, but a floating corpse gazing at him with glassy eyes-

"Father." A soft voice murmured from below. That was all it took. The thin walls of the Crow Club suddenly came rushing back, the memories returning to their locked box in Kaz's head. He didn't have time for distractions like that anymore, he couldn't... the past didn't matter to Kaz anymore. There was only right now, and how that would change his future. And right now, a Crow needed his help.