𝕬𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝕷𝖚𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖇𝖞 - [𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿]

𝐱𝐥𝐢𝐢. 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 — boom, boom, crack

━━━━━━━

 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐊𝐒𝐀'𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 days within the Barrel, Kaz had already assigned her with a job; learn from the Wraith. It had been easy for him to see just how spry she was, from leaping over the rooftops to the way she had dodged the Grisha attacking them.

 Thus, Inej had taught everything she could have; how to clamber up the side of a wall — she had disapproved of Aleksa's clunky boots, but when Aleksa had managed just fine, if not a little slowly, Inej had brushed it off. The Wraith had taught Aleksa how to wield her knife just a little better, how to slip into the shadows without having to move them at all.

 Inej had forced the poor Shadow to walk the edge of a crooked roof as though it were a tightrope. Aleksa had toppled the first time, swiftly following Inej's cries to protect her head and tuck herself into a roll; the movement had been sloppy, but Aleksa had survived with little more than a blue bruise on her tailbone, and a scrape or two on her forearms.

 So when the explosion on Fifth Harbour knocked them back, Aleksa did just as she had been taught. She minimised the impact and tucked herself inwards. The results were still harsh and true, and a bruise or two was sure to sprout, but with blisters from the explosions heat lacing her skin, Aleksa could scarcely feel her fall.

 Within seconds, Aleksa and Inej were side by side, pressed up against the flank of an old sea-bitten crate while their ears were ringing. They could smell the aftermath; the scent of soot and gunpowder... of blood.

 Aleksa needed a moment, a moment they didn't quite have. The heat licking her flesh was more than painful, it was horrific... but she'd suffered worse before, had she not? She was the Shadow, the only person to truly survive the Cut. She had survived the Black Heretic.

 "Go," Aleksa hissed as the breeze brushed by, offering just a little respite against the heat she pulled through. But the Wraith lingered, brown eyes widened as she surveyed the damage already done. That divot appeared between her brows, lips parting to argue, "Inej, I'll be fine. Go, please."

 Inej steeled herself, Aleksa was her friend, her sister... but in moments like this Inej had to remind herself that Aleksa was more than that. In moments when their lives were on the line, she was Kaz's second. They listened to her if there was no rasp from Kaz to be heard.

 Inej trusted her, and so she nodded, "See you on the other side."

 A squeeze to the hand was all Inej could offer before she did what she did best, and disappeared in a blink.

 Aleksa swallowed, a hearty breath tumbling through trembling lips. She shed her coat, one she'd pinched from Kaz's office... she'd have to get him a new one. Aleksa drew higher, just enough to peer over the crate. There was a cloud of smoke swallowing the harbour, billowing flames still dancing atop the schooner... Aleksa plucked an arrow from her quiver, fingers stretching and stretching until they latched around the bow that had toppled from her shoulder amidst the chaos.