Fair warning, this is gonna be sad and Wylan stans I'm sorry. Also Jan Van Eck is still alive in this one.
Kaz hurried down the alleys of the Barrel, making his way closer to East Stave. If Kaz had been an optimist, he might have believed everything was okay. But Kaz was not an optimist. His breaths were quick and uncontrolled as he passed by more people, avoiding their touches and shuffling past them to the next alley.
A note had been taped to his desk,
I'm glad someone was able to use my disaster, but he's another obstacle in my path.
You'll be glad to be rid of him, so really, you are welcome.
No name was signed, but
(Tell your little sharpshooter he should have blown my head off when he had the chance.)
Kaz enlisted everyone he could see to search the streets. Inej and Jesper were nowhere to be seen, off working a case Kaz had given them.
He neared the Emerald palace, where Pekka's filthy Dime Lions resided. Kaz was glad he kept to the shadows, the dark hid his limp and his identity with it.
He saw a curled body in front of him and broke into a run. His leg screamed in agony, but Kaz quickened across the alley as his senses responded to the pain and terror of finding the boy.
"Wylan!" His voice was hoarse, showing emotion he tried to withhold.
The body in front of him shook and Kaz got to it just as the boy managed to roll over.
"Wylan-"
Kaz grew nauseous instantly. His skin was stark, so much paler than he had last seen it. His eyes were glassed over, looking into Kaz's face, but Kaz was unable to tell if he recognized him.
"Wylan, what happened?"
Kaz knelt down by the boy and moved his hand down his side to find the source of the blood pooling around him. Multiple knife wounds, between his ribs and under his sternum. Kaz pushed his gloved hand against the boy's side but Wylan inhaled sharply at his touch and Kaz hesitated.
"Don't-" hardly a whisper came out of Wylan's mouth, but it was enough to make Kaz's eyes sting at the desperation. Wylan's throat let out a wet sound and he was instantly choking, coughing up spurts of blood. Kaz turned him to his uninjured side, but the boy still groaned and blood dribbled from his mouth to the rough pavement.
Kaz made to pick him up, but Wylan put a firm hand on the bare skin of Kaz's arm. He looked like he needed to say something, yet all that came out when he tried to speak was blood and the boy started hacking again. Kaz tensed up at the contact, but he didn't move Wylan's hand away. Instead of trying to staunch the blood pouring from him, he brought his hand to Wylan's hair and brushed back his locks. Wylan seemed to relax a little and Kaz watched as his breaths grew quieter, more pained.
Wylan didn't deserve death, Kaz had been the one to drag him into such a dangerous job. He could have left Kerch, he could have moved away with Jesper, never having to see his father again.
But Kaz had brought Wylan into the Barrel life, and there was no escaping. Kaz wished he had been the first to go. It was a selfish thought, not wanting to bear the loss of his friends, but he longed for it anyway.
Matthias had been an outsider, a useful tool in Kaz's game. But Kaz had mourned his death all the same, and had blamed himself for Nina's grief.
They would miss me less than the others, Kaz thought.
He was the worst of them, the one that couldn't come back from a loss, who couldn't be a saint in the eyes of Inej.
Kaz felt anger rising in him, and he welcomed the emotion. He let it consume him and build as Wylan took his last breath, as his thoughts turned to violence.
