The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

7. Jesper

  Jesper would have preferred to not have any sign of the merchling boy at the Crow Club. Heck, he would have preferred it if he had had the guts to kill him that night. But then there was that shock, that pulse stinging right up his arm. It made him want to bend metal. It made him want to create and move and manipulate objects. It made him want to... to....

To run away to the nearest gambling parlour and never look back. And so that's what he did.

It didn't end well.

Within an hour he was half drowning in mud, his drunken, sorry ass already kicked out for foul play.

"Don't let me see yer face again, yer rat!" The bartender bellowed from the doorway.

"No. Don't let me ever see your face again, hog!" He yelled back, laughing giddily. "It would be enough to kill me!"

The bartender growled, screwing his fists up. But he didn't move. "Brekker won't be able to protect you forever, boy!" He snarled. "The Barrel will take everything you love!"

"Hmm...well, the only thing I love is the sweet, sweet spin on Makker's Wheel, and that's not going anywhere, is it?"

"Jesper!" A sharp voice sliced through the air, and Jesper immediately swore under his breath.

"Better get going, bastard. Yer master's callin'." The bartender cackled before disappearing inside.

Jesper lifted his groggy head, high on whiskey and whatever other things they put in drinks these days. It was no surprise that Kaz was standing in front of him. It was also no surprise that he got punched in the face. Repeatedly.

"What in the devil's name are you doing?" Kaz hissed as he grabbed Jesper's collar and led him into darkness.

The Zemeni boy merely shrugged, trying to focus on Kaz's face as the drink and a small trickle of blood blocked his vision.

"You are an embarrassment out there, and not just for me, but for all of the Crows, including you!"

"Yeah, well it wouldn't be the first time."

"If I didn't have to spend half my time dragging you from a gutter than our jobs would have been signed off, and you could lose all the money you liked, because you'd have enough to pay for it!"

"We would have enough to pay for it if you hadn't picked favourites," Jesper mumbled, but of course Kaz heard it.

"Is that what this is about? You're massive ego and the need for attention?!"

"Oh come on, Kaz, when has DirtyHands ever taken in strays?" Jesper yelled, not bothering to keep his voice down anymore.

"I took you in, didn't I?"

Jesper froze, a sharp tug echoing in his heart. He hated to admit Kaz could still get to him, could still make him doubt everything and feel like a brainless child back under the grip of the Dime Lions. Kaz was right. He was an outcast; closed off, sarcastic, feeding off the dull pulse of a bullet being fired. The only friends he had would betray him in a second for 20 kruge. And the Crows... they tolerated him. That was all.

Kaz must have seen the hurt expression on his face, but he reacted only by letting go of Jesper's collar and beginning to hobble back down the street. "Come back when you have some sense in that brain of yours."

Kaz:

Kaz didn't bother looking behind him as he walked through the Slat; he knew Jesper wouldn't risk going back to a gambling parlour now, even if he had the desirable wish to spite him.

Eventually he made it to the Dregs, and was surprised to see the furry head of Wylan seated on the floor of their private meeting room, surrounded by random bits of metal. Nina was snoring on an armchair next to Matthias. He looked up at Inej, who was lounging on a window ledge, not bothering to watch the kid, but instead was looking out of a window.

Kaz didn't know what fascinated her so much about the street. A couple of drunks yelling at a wall? An unknown murder about to occur before her very eyes? Or maybe it was the need to escape all this; the longing for something other than the trashy Barrel that made her gaze at it and say One day I'll be free of this.

You mean one day she'll be free of you.

It was the one thing he couldn't give her.

Kaz's mind drifted back to Wylan as he heard a gentle and tuneless hum coming from below him. Wylan was fiddling with the bits of metal, and Kaz didn't have any idea what he would be able to build from it, but he knew something would come of it.

"You'll need to write us a material's list, merchling."

Wylan's shoulders jolted, and he stared up at Kaz, the words registering in his head, and as they did, his eyes widened.

"What for?"

"To build us the biggest and best bombs possible, what else?" Kaz replied tartly, not understanding Wylan's stricken expression.

"I... I can work with whatever you give me." The merchling replied firmly.

"Tch, as if," a voice from the doorway snorted. That was when Jesper hobbled in, swaying slightly, the alcohol still fresh in his system.

"Saints, what happened to you?" Nina asked as she awoke.

"I got on the wrong bet." Jesper said.

"As usual." Matthias joined in, not bothering to hide his disgust at Jesper's favourite hobby.

Jesper was about to make his way upstairs when he froze at the sight of Wylan. "What are you doing out of your cell?" He yelled, and Wylan cringed.

Inej sighed. "Jes-"

"He has my permission, Fahey." Kaz cut in, not bothering to acknowledge the hurt that flashed on Jesper's face.

"Right, right. Sorry boss." He trudged up the stairs.

Inej turned to look at Kaz, pity in his eyes. "Sometimes you're too hard on him, Kaz." She whispered, knowing precisely where Jesper had really gotten his bruises from.

"He should have learned by now how this works. And if he wants to waste his life away slaving over a gambling parlour then he can. But not while he works for me."

"We have no choice, don't you see?" She turned back to the window. "We all are doomed now."

For once Kaz didn't know what to say. Because it was true. There was no escape. They had fallen too deep into the rabbit hole. He looked down at Wylan; another fly in a spider's web.

"Do you know how to fight, kid?" Kaz suddenly said, surprising them all. The subject had gotten too personal.

Wylan shook his head.

Kaz glanced at Matthias. Matthias nodded, and stood up, gesturing to a very confused Wylan to follow.

"But I don't-"

"Anyone that joins my Dregs must know how to fight, otherwise they are as useless as guns without bullets."

Groaning, Wylan followed Matthias out, no doubt waiting for the ass-kicking he was sure to receive.