A/N: I love Zane, why did he have to die? :'(. Still, this is sort of like a small plot bunny I had. It makes little sense as it seems like it should be midway through another story and is missing a lot... still I hope you enjoy :). Reviews appreciated, con crits adored. BITS TAKEN FROM "THE FINAL EMPIRE". Will mark.

"Something is wrong, something is very wrong,"(1) Vin thought as they left the illogically happy obligator. Obligators did not, by nature, tend to be happy people, and Vin and Camon had just scammed them out of three thousand boxings. And she was sure they knew, one way or another. Yet they left unimpeded, no alarms and no arrests.

They hurried back directly to the safe house, Camon in a greedy glee over their apparent success. Once she got back, she moved into the corner of the room and uneasily watched Camon count his boxings in front of the crew. It had all just been to easy...

She moved quickly, back into one of the smaller rooms to find a somewhat tipsy Ulef. Ulef had turned up out of the blue a few years back, but had since proved his resourcefulness over and over to Camon. She was glad. Her brother had always told her to trust no-one, and even he had betrayed and abandoned her in the end, but Ulef... Ulef made her feel calm, he made her feel safe in a den of thieves with less than honourable intentions. She gently tugged his sleeve and he turned, relief evident all across his face.

"Ulef," she whispered. "We need to go."

He frowned. "Go? Go where? And where have you been?"

"Away," Vin whispered. "Out of here. Camon used me on a job with an obligator and..."(2)

Ulef stood abruptly. "We need to go now."

He grabbed her arm, ignoring the suggestive looks his friends shot him at the idea of the two of them leaving alone, and went to steer her out to her pallet in the back room, knowing she would want to grab the earring her mother left her and the "lucky" obsidian coin her brother had carved. Neither of them however, noticed one of Ulef's "friends" sidling up to Camon.

She grabbed her stuff, hoping she was overreacting but knowing from Ulef's reaction she probably wasn't, and quickly left. As her and Ulef moved back to the main room and went to leave, neither bothered to watch for Camon.

"What is this!?" he yelled as he stood, lurching towards her, obviously not sober. "Running away? Off to betray me to the ministry, are you?"(3)

Vin and Ulef dashed to the door, Vin stumbling and crying out in pain as she was struck in the back with a stool Camon had thrown, which then clattered loudly to the floor. Ulef supported her, absently rubbing her back as an abandoned fork from one of the nearby tables shot towards an advancing Camon, taking out his eye. He stopped, cursing in pain, his hand flying up to his bloody socket as the pair left, Ulef still supporting Vin.

She winced as he moved her over his shoulder, throwing down a coin and using his steel to push off from the ground to fly up onto the rooftops, from which he easily moved away from the safe house as anyone who noticed averted their eyes to the business of the seeming misting.

A good distance later, he set her down, sitting down behind her and gently kneading her back to ease the ache. She waved him off, but leaned down to lie in his lap, comfortable.

"What do we do now, Ulef?" she asked, looking up at him.

"First..." he nodded, gesturing in a direction Vin was for some reason surprised to note was their old crew's safe house, somewhat near which was a man stupidly playing with a steel inquisitor which had seemingly followed Vin and Camon back. The man seemingly succeeded in fending off the monster, and headed back towards the safe house with a small crew of his own.

She watched, confused, as the man left in seeming disappointment a while later.

"He's looking for you," Ulef said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Likely because you're special, Mistborn. Like me, like him." She nodded, and settled back down. Whoever the man was, she didn't need him, she had Ulef. The man would likely betray her in the end anyway, but Ulef she somehow knew never would.

"But what do we do now? You're all I have. My brother's gone, our crew wont take us back now..." Vin started. Ulef hummed in thought.

"My father," he said. "It's not ideal. He's a complete monster, and he's greedy. But he wont harm us. He knows what I am and likely thinks he needs me. I suspect when I left he went back to his random bedding of women in the hopes of breeding a Mistborn..."

"Your father? Ulef..."

"Vin, my name isn't Ulef, and I'm not skaa. I'm a half-breed like you, and my name is Zane Venture," he said before looking away, guilty for not telling her before. He didn't know how she'd react and knew he wouldn't be able to cope if she pushed him away. He couldn't go back to the insanity which had ruled his life before he found her.

To his surprise she nodded, accepting it easily. He'd turned up to the crew house suspiciously, dressed slightly too well and with the impeccable manners of noble - something a simple skaa could never hope to be taught. It just wasn't done. Half-breeds were supposed to be killed too, but if someone found a use for one maybe it was worth defying the Lord Ruler and the ministry to keep them.

Her brother had always told her that the surest way to stay alive in the underground was to make yourself indispensable. Sure, they were leaving the underground, but she would suspect similar rules applied amongst the nobility. And Mistborn were revered among the nobility. Vin was sure that wouldn't apply if more people knew of the half-breed Mistborn.

"Okay."

Zane let himself in to House Venture, gladly welcomed back by his father - if for his skills rather than anything else - before pulling Vin in, whom his father stared at with greedy eyes. Straff Venture smiled in a predatory way as he allowed Vin to stay, his eyes flicking in calculated approval between the two of them.

"A little more than friends?" he asked bluntly. Zane nodded stiffly as Vin stared ahead stonily. Lord Venture smiled again and showed them to a room in the keep, going past scores of servants and a man reading alone by a lamp in the library.

"Elend. My half-brother," Zane explained shortly.

"Socially awkward; reads outdated philosophical books all the time and has no interest in courtly manners. Where I went wrong I don't know," Straff Venture vented a short distance away from the room.

They got to the room her and Zane were to share and Straff turned, abruptly walking down the hall before stopping short of another door.

"I'm to have a small ball soon. You're both to keep out of the way," Straff warned before continuing away.

Vin stood awkwardly in their room, not sure what to do. Zane scooted onto the bed and motioned for her to sit down, and she followed, perching next to him.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"We keep out of the way, we train, and we wait," Zane said. "The rest of the time is our own - we wont need for a thing so long as we follow the rules."

"Wait for what?" she asked.

"There's talk of unrest amongst the nobles. I believe it's being exploited by the Mistborn we saw earlier, but I'm not going to say anything - unsolved unrest gives us reason to be here."

Vin nodded.

"What now?" Zane gently cupped her chin in his palm and looked at her.

"Anything we want, my love," he said, and leant down to kiss her. She kissed back; she couldn't deny for a second that she was anything other than addicted to Zane Venture. It wasn't love, it was need. But that suited them both fine.

(1) - pg.40
(2) - largely, changed slightly from pg.45
(3) - pg.47