Kaveh wasn't close with y/n or anything, but he was used to seeing her around on some occasions.
She was always busy, always going somewhere to do something, but she was recognizable due to her unique serpent-like eyes.
She was pretty intimidating at first, her height contributed to it greatly, but y/n was actually a pretty friendly person. Many people, once they realized she wasn't going to curbstomp them, were very sweet towards her and many folks would greet her whenever they saw her on the street.
Her and Kaveh chatted occasionally, and not once did he ever get a sort of "troublemaker" vibe from her.
Y/n was a really nice person, honestly!
So the young man was shocked when he witnessed her get 🚚ing bludgeoned to death by some random 🍑 treasure hoarders.
Wtf did she do to piss them off, huh?
She was always so sweet, and kind!
A little small, but still sweet!
So why tf did they go and murk her like that, damn!
Kaveh just been passing by when it happened, but he was still a witness. So... being knocked tf out and dragged away wasn't anything surprising. He didn't like it, but it wasn't unexpected.
But couldn't they have been considerate enough to not set him next to the dead body, though? Waking up, looking to the right, and seeing a very dead person isn't very pleasant.
"Open the bag already! We killed her, so may as well see the goods she had!" one of the treasure hoarders snapped as Kaveh kinda just sat there, pretending to be unconscious.
"But the boss said not to look." one of the treasure hoarders began hesitantly, "We're already getting paid enough for delivering the goods, so let's not put our lives at stake because of greed."
"But aren't you curious? If that man is desperate enough to get his hands on something that he'd hire a bunch of treasure hoarders, it must be valuable! Just one little look!"
"I said no. We've already screwed up enough, killing the poor girl out of the blue like that. We're done talking."
Kaveh snuck a quick peek at his surroundings as the treasure hoarders kept discussing the situation, and found that they were in a little treasure hoarder camp out in the wilderness.
He managed to catch a glimpse of Sumeru City in the distance. Thankfully, he wasn't too far away.
Within a few moments, Kaveh did a quick scan of his environment before shutting his eyes just as one of the treasure hoarders began to turn towards him.
Kaveh, and the very dead y/n beside him were leaning against the base of a tree. The setting sun was peeking through the leaves of the trees above, so it was probably nearing dusk.
There was a campfire in the middle of a camp, along with a couple tents scattered around. There were some book and bags located under one of the tents, and there were three treasure hoarders that Kaveh spotted.
Hm... well, he wasn't severely outnumbered.
If he waited till they settled down to eat or something, he could take out one of them no problem and use the corpse as a human shield while taking out the other two—
Ah, no no no, he didn't need another attempted murder charge on his record. While the first one was completely out of his control, and definitely not his fault, another would definitely land his 🍑 in jail.
He'd have to find another way.
Just running away would get him killed.
Staying would also probably get him killed.
Maybe he could make it look like an accident—
"And what do we do about the witness?" one of the treasure hoarders inquired, "Do we kill him too?"
"I'd rather not get anymore blood on my hands..." another mumbled, an almost shaky tone to his voice.
"Are you kidding? You didn't get any blood on you!"
"You're a 🚚ing idiot."
"HEY!!!"
"Enough, you two, you'll wake the dude up if you keep yelling like that! We need to think fast, things will get complicated if he wakes up and starts making a ruckus."
"Let's just cut out his tongue then."
"How about I cut out yours!"
There was the sudden sounds of a little scuffle along with angry shouts from the duo who didn't seem to like each other very much. Kaveh could hear the voices of other one, probably the most sensible in the group, shouting at them to cut it out.
Oh nah, they were gonna kill him.
Maybe he'd just have to make a run for it. But then what was he supposed to do about the whole "witnessing a murder" situation?
He couldn't just not say anything!
He witnessed someone get 🚚ing killed.
Okay, one step at a time.
First, he needed to get out of the situation alive.
The best way to do that would be to avoid conflict with these four, and just get to moving already.
He could report the murder AFTER he got out alive.
If he was dead, he couldn't tell anyone, now could he?
"Come on, we need to make a decision already!" one of the treasure hoarders snapped, "I already sent a message that we got the damned bag, so we need to get rid of this guy!"
"Let's just kill him!"
"We've done enough of that today, don't you think?"
"It was just one person!"
"If you were the one who got their skull bashed in, you wouldn't be saying such awful things."
"Yeah, 'cause I didn't get my head bashed in."
"Let's change that then."
"Enough of that, you two!"
Kaveh fidgeted a little with the rope which bonded his hands behind his back. It wouldn't be too difficult to untie, but it would take some time. Time he likely didn't have at this point.
He could feel the warmth of the setting sun's rays, it was getting darker. Running around with a bunch of trashes hoarders on his tail at night would not be fun...
"Come on, let's just kill him!"
Oh HELL NO-!
Before Kaveh could do anything to avoid this disaster looming over him, the girl beside him began to shift around with a quiet groan.
Kaveh couldn't help but look over, and gawked at the sight of the very dead y/n opening her eyes with an irritated look. She rubbed blood from her face with the back of her hand, and there was a sleepy look on her serpent-like eyes as she got up slowly.
The treasure hoarders gawked in disbelief as the young lady whom they assumed was dead walked right past them, double checked to make sure her belongings remained, and began walking away with a look of exhaustion.
"H-Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" one of the treasure hoarders snapped angrily.
Y/n didn't stop walking off, disappearing into the woods without another word while leaving Kaveh all by himself with the Treasure Hoarders.
W...WHAT?! SHE LEFT HIM!!! BY HIMSELF! WITH THE VERY SAME PEOPLE WHO WERE READY TO KILL HIM JUST FOR WITNESSING THEM BEAT HER TO DEATH!!!
"HEY! WAIT, COME BACK!!!" Kaveh shrieked as he started floundering around like a fish, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU JUST LEAVING ME TO DIE, HUH?!"
"She... just walked away." the treasure hoarder who didn't seem to like violence murmured, "What do we do now?"
"Track her down, of course!" the very violent one shouted, earning a scowl from the very gentle treasure hoarder, "Come on, let's go get her!"
"No." the very responsible treasure hoarder warned, grabbing his associate by the shoulder before he could take off, "You saw how she just got up after dying, we don't know if it's safe to go after her!"
"Well what if she wasn't dead?"
"She didn't have a pulse, I checked."
"Please, just how dangerous could some employee from a Café be?" the violent one challenged, "I don't care if she got up after dying, I'll just kill her again!"
...
Not even a second later, y/n came rushing right back out from the darkness with a particularly sharp and rather large tree branch in her grasp. Kaveh only caught glimpse of her, but there was pure bloodlust in her e/c gaze as she charged at the group of treasure hoarders with a blood curdling scream.
The very violent treasure hoarders let out a high pitched scream of terror which was cut off with a sickening gurgling/choking noise as the branch was jabbed right through him. Like— Kaveh watched it go RIGHT THROUGH HIM.
Kaveh watched is disbelief and horror as the sweet employee who would give free food to the sleep deprived scholars who dropped by the Puspa Café began to murder the 💩 out of the three treasure hoarders who had the audacity to cross her.
He damn near went deaf from the terrified screams which came from the treasure hoarders as they were being massacred, and flinched every time blood splashed onto him.
It was a rather terrifying scene, to be honest.
The trio's screams of agony didn't halt for what felt like hours, and the violent one was surprisingly the last one to die. Even after receiving the god damn Rengoku treatment with a tree branch.
He didn't die, even after the h/c haired woman spent a good three minutes stomping the 💩 out of his face.
By the time it was over, y/n was standing in the midst of the now destroyed and very bloody camp. She was covered head to toe in... red paint, and was taking slow, shallow breaths as she tossed aside the now obliterated branch she'd just used to kill three people.
"Uh... excuse me?"
The h/c haired young woman's gaze snapped towards Kaveh, and he gulped. Her eyes were scary enough on their own, all that damn blood— er... red paint, wasn't helping very much.
The young man shifted uncomfortably.
"Could you maybe untie me?"
Y/n blinked once, "Oh, yeah, sure."
The young woman untied him and left without another word, leaving Kaveh out on his own.
He wondered if maybe he imagined it all.
Maybe it was all just a dream.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't a dream.
Alhaitham kicked the 💩 out of him for getting blood on the floor the following morning, which resulted in a heated argument between the two of them on where to go if one of them was beaten bloody.
Kaveh, tired and irritable, headed on over to the Puspa Café to get SOMETHING to make him feel alive again, and guess who he saw!
The snake eyed woman who committed first degree murder just a couple hours before. She was no longer covered in blood, she was dressed in new clean clothes, and there was a sweet smile on her face as she provided another customer with their much needed caffeine.
When Kaveh compared this absolute angel to the 🚚ing she-devil that brutally murdered three treasure hoarders with a tree branch... he found himself feeling insane for thinking they were the same person.
But they were—
The main problem was how the hell y/n was carrying on with her morning without issues, even after the events which transpired the night before. And most importantly, how the hell was she alive???
Y/n, who had woken up feeling refreshed and in a wonderful mood, could feel Kaveh's gaze practically burning into her as she took yet another order.
She knew that letting him out of that situation alive would definitely result in some trouble, but she wasn't just gonna kill someone who was unfortunate to pass by at the time of her murder.
And how the hell was she gonna explain the whole "being-bludgeoned-to-death-and-getting-right-back-up-three-hours-later" thing???
'Maybe if I gaslight him enough...' she thought with a small frown, 'Bah, I can't think about this right now.'
"Y/n!" Enteka, the acting manager called to the h/c haired woman, "Could you run an errand for me? I'll give you the rest of the day off to take care of it!"
Y/n paused, rubbing the back of her head where she'd been beaten to death with a hammer just the night before, "Yeah, sure. What exactly is it?"
Apparently, the woman had a catering order that was due soon. One of the dishes required ajilenakh nuts, and the newest shipment which would be delivering them was delayed.
Enteka wanted y/n to head out and retrieve some ajilenakh nuts from the desert so the order could be finished in time. It'd be quicker that way, apparently.
Running errands like these was nothing new to y/n, and she figured she needed a change in scenery. Especially after the drama from the evening before...
So... y/n agreed.
Just to escape Kaveh, and to get a break from the hustle and bustle of Sumeru City, y/n agreed to a task that would require her to spend ENERGY WALKING FOR MILES AND CLIMBING TREES JUST TO GET SOME NUTS.
What nuts?
DEEZ NUTS.
*ahem* sorry.
Y/n left the café in a bit of hurry, breezing past Kaveh before he could even think to say anything about what occurred the night before.
The message was clear enough, but the dude followed anyways. Y/n kept up a brisk pace after exiting the café, and progressively walked faster and faster as Kaveh shouted her name.
Oh boy, she really didn't want to talk—
"Hey, y/n!" the damned blondie grabbed her by the shoulder and y/n whirled around with a ticked off look.
"What is it?" she said sharply, "I'm busy."
"Are you just gonna pretend that nothing happened last night?" he demanded, "Even after everything, you're going about your day business as usual and even tried to run off when I confronted you about it!"
"Erm, Kaveh?"
"The least you could do is at least spare me a moment to discuss what the hell happened! Is that really too much to ask?!"
"No, it isn't. It's just..."
Y/n gave a few onlookers a wary look.
"What you're saying is very strange out of context."
"...oh."
"We can talk though, but it'll either have to wait or we'll have to walk and talk." y/n pointed out, "Are you busy today? Would you rather wait, or just talk now?"
"We..." Kaveh sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with a little look of embarrassment, "Yeah, we can just walk and talk."
Y/n offered him a half-hearted smile, "Okay then."
Well, what an interesting way to start the day.
Not the most bizarre thing that had happened to her in the morning, but it was still a little jarring.
Bah, it'd be alright.
Y/n would handle this swiftly and effectively.
"I never died."
"They said you had no pulse."
"Do you think someone who steals treasure for a living instead of getting a proper job would really know how to read someone's pulse?"
"..."
"That's what I thought."
"Okay, but why'd they attack you in the first place?" Kaveh questioned, "Did you have something they wanted?"
Y/n pondered for a long moment before sighing.
"Okay, now that's a long story."
"We've got all day."
"Mm, I guess so. Very well, I'll tell you what I know."
(Hm... do you see what I see?)