Crows of a Feather

The Fall

Kaz

    He stood at the entrance to the vault, precisely on time, The raven-haired boy checked once more over his shoulder to be sure the coast was clear. "Alright Katje '' he said barely above a whisper. Not a moment later the vent grate was opened and out crawled Erine, without a second thought she dropped the key into his gloved hand. "Good," Kaz said as he unlocked the safe. The pair then walked inside the treasure-filled room, gems, gold, metals, artworks, and any treasure the heart could desire was in that room. Kaz scanned the vault looking for the object of his desire, Pekka's favorite golden lion. Rumored to have been crafted by the king himself as a birthday gift, a lie, obviously. Seeing it on the pedestal Kaz was careful in his approach, not wanting to set off any alarms. With the lion now safely tucked into his coat pocket Kaz checked his pocket watch, right on time. " Alright Erine, time to go" he directed, glancing at the girl he noticed her infatuation, a locket sitting on a rack, seemingly empty.    

    Kaz saw her turn around and nod as she headed back for the vent grate to go back to her entrance. As she was placing the grate back in place the alarm went off. Kaz looked up alarmed, this wasn't supposed to happen. Someone had been caught and it wasn't them, Kaz kneeled down to the grate. Looking in he caught Erine panicked eyes, " Go back to the randevu, don't get caught, stay hidden. Wait for me when you get there" he said as he stood up. Now all he had to do was get out.

    Kaz ran faster than he had before, taking the planned route back to the roof, as he approached the final corner he stopped his track. 'Shit' he thought two guards stood between him and his exit. With very little time and even fewer options Kaz ran back to the window he passed, hastily broke it and climbed through. Once he reached the roof he took off once again, heading to the rondevu roof a block away, where Erine was waiting for him. Hopefully. Had Kaz properly took his time to check he wasn't followed,he would've noticed the man chasing him with a revolver. But it wasn't Until he was on his last jump, when the gunshot startled him off his balance and he fell. Kaz Brekker fell 4 stories down, and right on his leg.

Erine

    Erine was panicked, she saw Kaz fall from her place on  the rooftop. She had never felt this kind of fear before, this worry. Looking down she saw where he lay, in the alley with his leg bent in a way she knew it shouldn't be, with his eyes closed. Hearing the men from the bank rush their way over to him she scurried down the building and knelt by Kaz. Almost touching him. ' Think, think' she forced herself to look around for a hiding place, anywhere. Her yellow eyes locked in on a grate welded into the cobblestone. The sewer.

    Kaz would hate it. She knew that. Like Kaz, Erine had been studying him as well. Kaz to her was unknown, unfamiliar. She had never been treated with such kindness by an owner before, even if he was just using her for personal gain. Erine had never known what it was like to be nurtured in any way. She would take note of how Kaz constantly tried to keep himself clean, and would order her to keep herself clean whenever she got dirty. She noticed how he avoided as much human contact as possible, though she doesn't understand why, she just assumed he had been hurt badly enough like her to not seek it out.

    Hearing the men get closer, Erine focused her attention on the boy. She took off her belt and carefully wrapped it around his chest as a makeshift harness to lower him down safely. The ally was dark, barely any light, hiding them perfectly. By the time she had gotten Kaz hidden away,  free of the belt, and was about to go down herself, two men bearing lion marks on their necks appeared. Erine didn't give them time to see much, just her fierce glare with her eyes and a hiss of warning before she jumped down to escape. Trailing behind her was her long tail like belt. That was the first appearance for Panther of the barrel, and it certainly wasn't the last.

     Erine didn't focus on anything else But Kaz until she was able to get him back into his room and on his bed at the slat. How did she manage to drag a 14 year old dead weight boy across town? She didn't know, perhaps adrenaline, or the sheer will to protect the only person who took care of her. But one thing was for sure, she would do it again if she had to.

That was how The Crow was saved by his Panther.