Fragments *KANEJ*

Remember

TW: MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

Inej grabbed the knife from underneath the bed and slashed out. The man assaulting her screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground, hands over his eyes. Blood was rushing out, but he lunged for her. She lashed again, striking him across the eyes yet again. Even in the dark, she noticed the eyeball release from his face and fall to the ground beside her. She was terrified at what she'd done, but she had to get out.

She ran, ran out of the house and away from the man. Away from the Menagerie and out of West Stave.

A hard kick to Inej's side startles her awake. She awakes to two men standing over her yet again. They haul her up from the floor and begin dragging her out of the dark, windowless dungeon with no words said.

She groans. "Where are you taking me now? I'm not just some suitcase you can haul around like a possession you know." She gives the men a stern expression, but they ignore her.

They had taken all of her knives, unfortunately, but she has her fists. And her knees. She knees one of the men hard in the thigh, the hidden blade on her kneecap digging into his skin. With a yelp, he releases his grip and she flips over the other man quickly, choking him with her strong legs, and then swiftly digs her knee into his head.

The two men lay dead on the ground, and she quickly apologizes to her Saints, praying for their forgiveness and for these men to be watched over in the afterlife. After, she rushes up the stairs, and checks for guards. None. She doesn't trust it, but the spider silently makes her way towards the door anyway. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, sensing danger. But before she can react, she feels a knife pressing against her throat, and her arms held behind her back. From the angle she was being held, she can't use her knee-knives.

Whoever is holding her captive drags her up two flights of stairs and into a room. Inside, there is a man with a masquerade mask sitting at a desk, and 8 burly men with guns and knives standing guard around the room. She feels a quick, sharp pain in her left thigh, but ignores it. The guard holding her shackles her hands together and kicks her legs out from underneath her, then takes his place in front of the locked door.

She can't move. Why can't she move? She looks at her leg and the realization hits her. There's no visible wound because of the tiny size of the shot, but she realizes that her legs had been paralyzed with some sort of drug. She growls and looks at the man sitting at the desk.

"What do you want with me?" She asks him with a sharp, murderous glare.

"It's simple, really. What does Kaz Brekker want most?" He stares at her with a quizzical look, head cocked to the side.

She thinks about it for a second. Money? Power? She remembers his words to her last year. "I want... you." Shrugging that thought out of her mind, she knows that wasn't the answer. He doesn't want anything more than money.

"Money?" She responds with a shrug.

"True, but not quite the answer I was looking for. I'll make this easier for you, girl. What does Brekker want from Pekka Rollins?" Anger flashes across the man's face, even with the mask on.

Revenge. That is what Kaz yearned for from Rollins. So this mysterious man wants revenge? He'll have to earn it.

"Oh I don't know..." Inej plays along cooly. "Murder?"

The masked man snickers. "You know what I mean, annoying girl. Revenge." A sharp arrow of fear lodges itself inside her soul, but she tears it out.

"And why would some random guy seek revenge on me?" She questions with her eyebrow raised.

The man stands up from his desk and walks over to her. "You don't remember?" He smirks and slowly begins to remove his mask.

Inej's eyes widen as the realization hits her like a gunshot. Beneath his mask are nothing but dark, scarred eye sockets. The man from the menagerie. She struggled to keep the memories from drowning her. Terror shakes her bones as she thought of what he might do to her. She had taken his eyes and made him blind.

A cruel smile spreads across his face. "So, you finally remember, little girl." He gives her a hard kick in the side. "I will make you feel more pain than you have ever felt. No one is here to protect you, and you have no way of escaping this time.

He begins to strip her of her clothes, the panic and trauma rising in her once she is only in her underclothes. She doesn't want this to happen again... she did't think it would ever happen again... tears stream down her face as a knife is stabbed into her bare stomach. Purposefully in a spot that won't kill her, but will cause much, much pain. He then continues kicking her, a horribly angry grimace on his face.

Please, Kaz, please save me. I need you. Kaz please...