A Coin Has Two Sides (Season Three) || Kaz Brekker x OC

10. Déjà Vu

Three hours was certainly not plenty of time to fully rejuvenate an exhausted shadow summoner.

But the three she had been given was a rare gift from someone who wasn't prone to kindness.

So three hours is what she had to work with.

After being woken by the same employee who had shown her to the room in the Slat, Winnie forced herself to end those three hours and make her way over to the Crow Club.

As it was on the ship, everything was giving her a strange sense of déjà vu.

Walking up to the entrance where Jesper was stood guard was the first hit.

"Well rested?" he asked.

There was sarcasm in his tone. The sharpshooter also knew three hours wasn't enough time.

"Enough to stay awake for as long as it takes to plan these jobs out. Although ... Brekker can drag it out much longer than necessary. Maybe I'm being a tad hopeful", Winnie replied.

Jesper chuckled before returning back to his original stance.

Hands on his hips, hovering over the barrels of his guns.

In that moment, a soft smile fell upon his lips as he stared into Winnie's eyes.

"What?" Winnie asked, slightly unnerved by his sudden calm presence.

"Nothing. Just ... having you back here is uh – nice. I missed you, blondie."

"Don't go getting all soft on me, Jes."

"I distinctly remember being the opposite of soft around you, Winnie Marth", Jesper replied, a cheeky wink and playful tone intact.

"There it is", Winnie scoffed.

"You're the one who got all emotional last we spoke. What was it again? I was someone you hold close to your heart?" Jesper retaliated, pointing her focus to their last conversation before they separated from one another.

"I've been doing my best to ignore that time so far", Winnie muttered.

"I see. Back to the emotionless shadow summoner we all fear then?"

"That's the plan."

"Plans, plans, plans. Your soul really never left this place, did it?"

"Oh, I definitely left. But I think a part of me always knew I would find my way back here, so it never really died out."

"Too many things here that you would miss? Things you would never be able to live without."

"I still firmly believe my quality of life would be so much better if I had never come to Ketterdam in the first place", Winnie said sternly.

"Ah ... emotionless. Got it", Jesper quickly replied with a small smile.

"It's a useful trait. Emotions get in the way."

"Or they pave the way. The second I let emotions sweep me up, I found true happiness."

"Of course you did. Speaking of your true happiness, where might Wylan be?"

"Probably hunched over some sort of chemical experiment as usual. Kaz putting him on this job stressed him out again, so he's dived headfirst into his work as a distraction."

"Hopefully he'll be here once Brekker has wrapped this up. Or he'll have died of old age. It could take that long."

"I don't know about that. Kaz seems to be in quite the hurry."

"Note taken. Any more time I spend out here talking to you might cost me a limb."

"Naturally. Then off you go, blondie. As always, I wish you good luck dealing with the boss."