𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐍 | Kaz Brekker

「no funerals」

The Fold was cold. She had not realised that on their trip the first time as she was either in Kaz's arms or the adrenaline made her forget. She was used to the darkness of alleyways and rooftops but this was a different darkness. Like the manifestation of an evil mans soul, Valeria felt dirty and impure as she shivered in the cold. She leaned into Kaz more.

She watched as fog pooled around their feet and shuddered. She picked dup the end of a conversation briefly once she looked up. Kaz nudged her, they'd hit five marks. Jesper jumped to action, moving backwards as quietly as he had ever done and lifted a hatch that Valeria and Inej jumped down first, into the hull of the Skiff. They were all desperate to be away from the eeries feeling above.

They had however not escaped the noises of approaching Volcra but Valeria distracted herself by examining the hull, filled with rich peoples unnecessary luggage and nothing more. 

She began to pull off her clothes to reveal her usual outfit of choice underneath. Cloaked back in her black clothes she felt slightly better as she pulled the comfort of her dark scarf around her neck, she waited for the rest to finish changing. 

"This is a bad idea." Jesper said, his unbuttoned white shirt showing his chest off as he fiddled with his bullets. Valeria moved across the room to sit beside Kaz who rubbed his bad leg uncomfortably and Valeria winced. She pulled a tonic she had specifically brought along for this situation from her pocket and place dit in the palm of his gloved hand.

He nodded in thanks and put it to his mouth, drinking it slowly as he always did. She had a habit of making her tonics and poisons flavourful, he had made the mistake of knocking a headache tonic back too fast and the taste of strawberries was in his mouth for days. It was quite pleasant but he couldn't have anyone knowing that. The pain in his leg subsided and he moved his hand to Valeria's and squeezed it in thanks.

"I think it's rather practical." Kaz said, letting his leg rest as he sat.

"What? Why?" Jesper asked, scoffing as he took the bullets from his guns, blowing on the holster.

"I don't see how we step off this boat without you pulling those guns. So, cleaning them is a good idea." Kaz said, looking up at the deck above them as they shook about below with every movement. 

"I don't mean this." Jesper said, showing his gun and then suing it to gesture to their current situation. A dry laugh coming from his lips. "I mean this."

A volcra screamed just in time, cementing his point. Valeria's eyes widened at how close the creature sounded, her mind going back to how they had dealt with them the first time. She was not prepared to do whatever adrenaline fuelled thing she had done that first time and hoped she would not need to.

"We are in the worst place in the world, on a ship full of people who want us dead, surround by monsters who want us in their gullets." Jesper rambled as he looked closer and closer to his sanity slipping away. He sighed in regret. "I should've brought Milo."

"Whose Milo?" Inej asked, turning from where she was tying her boot across from Jesper and meeting two aghast stares from the Zemini Crows.

"The goat!" They said, personally offended. Kaz and Inej merely raised their eyes brows at the two, that bloody goat as practically part of the Crows at this point and if left to their devices, Val and Jesper would probably make it so.

"How many bullets do you have?" Kaz asked as Valeria gripped his arm to stable herself as the boat jolted once more.

"Not enough." Jesper said, flipping his gun as a volcra growled. Right above them. No one said anything any longer. Valeria studied the floor. Kaz had said they wouldn't die but fear had set in. She knew one thing, if she died she refused to pass on. She would stay here, or in Ketterdam or wherever. She would not go to her mother or father in the afterlife. She couldn't.