With Hope, the Beginning of Better

Chapter 6: Segways

Hey! Just so you know, I do plan to make this a relatively long fic (again, may be subject to change) since I really want to focus on the character development of the four as well as Nina and Imogen later on in the story.

CW: Broken bones, Wylan reacting to perceived abuse (very subtle and no, no one's actually abused, it was a misunderstanding), passing out from pain.

This week is yet again a Wylan chapter.

Hope you enjoy!

-----------------

Wylan

Wylan felt his consciousness rise. He slowly opened his eyes and made out an open palm over his face. In Wylan's experience, that only meant one thing, so he immediately slapped the hand out of the way, then sat up and tried to find a hard object—ah, there's a pot—and threw it with full force towards the source.

"Saints, Wylan! Calm down!" Jesper shouted as he shot his hand and stopped the pot midair with his Fabrikator powers. Jesper then let the pot clatter onto the floor.

Confused, Wylan rubbed his eyes. He seemed to be on Kaz's bed. While he didn't grace Kaz's room often, he recognized the bare oak shelf in the corner, the dark ebony table scattered with paperwork, his stiff chair, some fruit crates, and various books about Sankt Feliks' heart, a new addition to the room, stacked atop the table. Wylan's former pot target seemed to be a middle-aged Shu woman in a Grisha Healer's clothes. Her eyes shot up in shock and fear, then began darting around for a means of escape. Wylan almost laughed; he was the least threatening crow in this room.

"I told you one of us should've been right by him," Inej reprimanded softly.

"How was I supposed to know he'd throw my pot?" Kaz grumbled, annoyed. Then, however, his face morphed into an all-too-familiar expression.

"Is that—" Jesper started while leaning closer to Inej's ear.

"Scheming face," Inej confirmed.

"Nice to know some things never change," Jesper snorted, "You're not going to tell us anything, are you?"

Kaz simply ignored them, absorbed instead in that expansive mind of his. His face took an unexpected pallor and his eyebrows set in a devious glare.

"We're attacking them tonight," he sneered simply. His eyes were deep black, like the bottom of an inky well at midnight. Wylan had only seen that expression twice before, once before Kaz had stabbed Oomen's eye out, and the second when Inej had been kidnapped by Jan Van Eck, his own father. That's when Wylan knew. Kaz Brekker's rationality had left and Dirtyhands was here in his stead.

"What—what are you talking about, Kaz?" Inej questioned fearfully, shifting her left foot around.

"The Razorgulls and Black Tips. They can't attack former or current Dregs and Crows and not face consequences. If I don't react, I would be demoted from the King of the Barrel to nothing in less than twenty-four bells and the Dregs would be nothing more than a joke."

"I don't know, Kaz. We took pretty good care of them back there," Jesper muttered.

Kaz turned on him. "Oh, did you now? Pretending to faint, therefore almost jeopardizing our position, and then not paying attention, leading to Wylan getting hurt? His leg's even worse than mine was! We're lucky that we were able to find a Healer in time," Kaz shouted, his voice sharp as ice.

Then his voice quieted to a harsh hiss. "I know you haven't been a part of the Dregs for a while, so let me remind you. Your actions affect all of us. We could be lying on the streets, heads bleeding and dead, and it would be all your fault. And if I somehow survived along with you, I would not hesitate to make your life hell."

"Kaz," Inej stated simply, and that one word seemed to hold the entire world for Kaz.

"What, Inej?" he sneered in the same tone he used with Jesper. Yet his eyes softened marginally.

"All three of us are out of our element, Kaz. I was about to be stabbed, but Jesper saved me." She gave a grateful look towards Jesper. "I owe you a life debt."

"And I owe Wylan one," Jesper sighed, looking at Wylan's leg with a guilty expression. Wylan finally glanced at his leg. The bottom half of his calf was bent the wrong way, with shards of bone jutting out of his skin around purple bruises. He took a sharp breath and snapped his head away, shutting his eyes as he did so. Wylan could easily identify that had there not been a Healer, his leg would've needed to be amputated. Wylan exhaled unsteadily. He was glad it hadn't come to that.

The Healer gave him a look that was vaguely fond and slowly approached him to begin setting his bone back in place.

She looked at him before speaking. "I will have to put this back in place. It will hurt, but if I don't do this now, it won't heal properly."

The last thing Wylan wanted was for anyone to touch—that thing—but he knew it had to happen.

He nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

She put her hands and quickly jerked the bone back in place. Wylan howled from the pain and promptly passed out.

---------------

Wylan woke slowly. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His entire body felt sore, despite him not having done any movement for hours, and his leg was wrapped in a stiff, cloth cast. He was glad his mother was in the countryside and she couldn't see him now. He didn't think he could stand the worry on her face. He looked around, and found Jesper, Kaz, and Inej sitting across the room.

"About time you woke up, merchling," Kaz said in a bored tone, flicking cards from one hand to the other.

Wylan then remembered the conversation they were having before his leg got painfully yanked.

"No one owes anyone anything, Jesper and Inej," Wylan exasperated, now looking at them, "Kaz, there are other methods than violence, you know."

"Like what, merchling?" Kaz drawled, annoyed, finally looking up from his hands.

"Hmm, what about bankrupting?" Wylan suggested in a sarcastic voice, "Or I don't know, hmm, blackmailing? Threats, enticing the Black Tips and Razorgulls to join the Dregs, or a number of other things that are much more effective than simply beating people up. In this case, violence isn't even necessary."

No sane person would have dared say to Kaz Brekker what Wylan said next, but Wylan found he didn't care much. "In fact, it would be a liability. Thought of that?"

They all just looked at him before Inej leaned back on her chair, rubbed her hands over her face, and sighed. "Great. We've just created another major crime lord. As if one wasn't enough for Ketterdam."

"You're right. We've thoroughly corrupted him. You'll see, my merchling's gonna put Ketterdam into eternal night," Jesper mused theatrically.

Kaz looked at Wylan for a solid chime. Kaz's eyes looked unusually unstable and lost, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing anymore.

"You have a point," is all Kaz conceded before he rushed out of the room.

----------------

Wylan is way more threatening than he thinks. I mean, bombs, acids, and smarts. Need I say more? ;)

And what's up with Kaz?

Also, the similarities between Wylan and Kaz are crazy. It never fails to surprise me.

Next week we'll have Kaz and Jesper :)