Fragments *KANEJ*

Not Her.

The man has a purple coat and a black masquerade mask. Shane Kaneu.

"So, was this whole thing a set up?" Kaz asks with an angry smirk.

"Not exactly. It only was once I knew who your crew was." Kaz furrows his brow. This whole thing is his fault. He led his crows into this trap... But he can't think about that now. He'll play along.

"So why do you have it out for us then anyway?" Kaz questions playfully and walks closer towards the man, keeping one eye on Inej and his fellow Crows behind him.

"Not for all of you. Just your wraith." Fear sparks inside of Kaz and he halts in his tracks. Then, before he knows what's happening, 6 other people run into the room and surround them. Kaneu just stands in the back as his men attack the Crows.

A fight breaks out as the four fight off the guards. A few of them are Grisha, unfortunately. One uses his squaller powers to harshly blow Wylan against a wall. Wylan groans loudly and holds his bleeding head.

Nina uses her powers to heartrend two of the guys, but the other four are still alive and attacking Kaz and Inej. Kaz kicks one in the stomach and then cuts his chest with his sharp crow cane, but the man heartrends Kaz and he falls to the ground in pain.

"KAZ!!!" Inej yells and throws a knife into the man's head. Kaz's heart starts beating normally again and he takes a few deep breaths, before getting up and saving inej from being shot by one woman. Kaz kicks the guard's gun out of her hand and catches it in his own, and shoots her in the heart.

Two more to go. One of them slices Nina in the arm with a knife, and she cries out in pain. But Inej punches him hard in the face and chokes him with a rope. Lastly, together Kaz and Nina finish off the last one with a hard break of his neck.

Inej and Nina run over to Wylan to help him up as he stumbles, blood dripping into his eyes. Kaneu is gone and they run as fast as they can up the 3 flights of stairs to the entrance. Jesper and Matthias are laying on the ground, luckily not dead, but unconscious and bleeding. All the exits are sealed shut, looks like from a Durist, and they have nowhere to go.

"Shit.." Kaz mutters furiously and looks around for an alternative exit.

"Kaz! Over there!" Nina yells and points to the back of the room. Kaneu stands there with two other guards. He claps his hands together and after some intricate movements, fire appears in his hands. Kaz's eyes widen.

"He's an Inferni!! RUN!" Inej screams and they take cover behind a wall. The floor bursts into flames and starts spreading around them. Kaz swears.

"Go! I'll handle this asshole. Just get yourselves and the wounded to safety. Escape out this window here.

"Kaz we're not going to leave you!" Inej exclaims angrily.

"I'll distract him, don't worry. I always have a plan." Kaz smirks and walks out into the open casually, heavily leaning on his cane.

"Kaneu was it? What do you have out for my Wraith anyway?" Kaz asks cunningly.

"That's none of your business, Brekker. Let's just say I hold grudges." Kaneu responds and sets his hands aflame. Just then, Inej appears by Kaz's side.

"Well then, you don't need anything from him. Take me, and let them go." Inej proposes bravely. Kaz shoots Inej a look of terror and anger and shakes his head. He will not lose her. He's lost enough, and he may be good at pushing down his feelings, but he couldn't handle another loss. Not her. Not... not the only person he truly cares about. Who he truly trusts.

Kaneu smirks and considers the idea. "That's a good proposal... but, I'd rather just kill you right here, right now." He throws a flaming ball of fire in her direction and all Kaz can think in this moment is "Not her. Not Inej."

Without a moments hesitation, he leaps in front of Inej and pushes her out of harms way. The fireball hits him in his back and he screams. All he can feel is searing pain. Searing, burning pain. But the last thing he thinks before he blacks out is "At least she is okay."