Without Armor
Chapter 2
Inej, Nina, Jesper, and Wylan heard Matthias' voice coming from Kaz's office. Something was wrong.
"Jes, Wylan, make sure nobody comes in through the door. Lock it, close the windows. Something's happened." Nina said quickly. She and Inej ran up the stairs to Kaz's office to find a mess of blood on the floor and panic in the air. Normally, Kaz didn't panic and neither did Matthias, but this was not normal.
"Kaz…" Inej couldn't get her voice to be any louder than a whisper. Kaz was hurt.
Nina rushed over to where Matthias was kneeling over Kaz who, while not losing consciousness at the moment, was losing a lot of blood and she knew it wouldn't be long.
"Matthias, I need you to put pressure on the wound. I'll be back." Nina said before rushing out of the room, presumably to get some healing salves and stitching tools. Matthias instantly moved to put his hands over the wound and Kaz shot him the strangest look he had ever seen on the barrel boss' face. Matthias thought it looked something like fear and was about to ignore it and try to stop the bleeding anyways but Inej, of all people, stopped him.
"Don't touch him. Use your shirt." She said from where she stood by the window. Matthias wasn't sure why he couldn't touch the demjin to save his life, but he wouldn't cross the wraith. For all he knew, Kaz really was a demon and touching his blood could mean getting cursed or something. So, he pulled his shirt over his head, balled it up, and pushed it down on Kaz's abdomen. Kaz shut his eyes in pain, but he made no sound, nor did he flinch away from Matthias.
"Keep your eyes open Kaz." Inej said just loud enough for Kaz and Matthias to hear her. As soon as the words left her mouth, Nina came running back in through the room followed by Jesper and Wylan. Wylan gasped at the bloody scene before him and turned to Jesper who only had eyes for Kaz at the moment.
Nina walked quickly over to Kaz and Matthias and kneeled down beside him.
"Inej, I'm going to need your hands." She said. Inej understood and moved forward to take Matthias' place. While Matthias was hesitant to leave Kaz, he thought he knew why he had to. If anyone was going to have to touch him, Kaz would want Inej to be the one to do it. He wasn't sure how he knew that, as there was no evidence given in the past to support such thinking, but he knew it nonetheless. Matthias stood up and backed away letting Inej take over.
"Kaz, can you hear me?" Inej said locking her eyes on Kaz's. He nodded but couldn't seem to speak. Kaz knew that if he opened his mouth to speak, he would let out a sound of pain. And he couldn't do that in front of them. He was already weak and compromised in their presence. He didn't need to make it worse. So, he nodded in response.
Nina, knowing it would be bad to not address Kaz himself in this situation, as he was still conscious, looked him in the eyes before speaking.
"I need to get a better look at the wound. Inej is going to remove your waistcoat and shirt so I can stitch you up. Understand?" Nina didn't give him an option, didn't ask for permission, just told him what was going to happen. While Kaz was normally not one to take orders, he knew that he had to let this happen if he was going to live. And while he hated the thought of being laid bare in front of his friends, he knew that there was no other choice. Kaz began to try to unbutton his waistcoat but the blood on his gloves made it hard to grip the buttons, not to mention the fact that his hands just wouldn't stop shaking. He knew what was coming. And he knew he had to prepare himself for the water.
"I'll do it." Inej said to him as she gently began undoing the buttons and sliding the vest back from his shoulders. Kaz closed his eyes and started breathing heavily through his nose. He had to stay calm. He couldn't submit to the water just yet. There hadn't even been any skin to skin contact yet. But he knew it was coming. And that was enough to make the water start to rise.
"Eyes open Kaz." Inej ordered him and while he didn't listen to her, she knew that he was still conscious. She could feel it in his breathing as she unbuttoned his undershirt and pulled it open to reveal his torso. She had seen Kaz before without his shirt on, but every time it never ceased to anger her at seeing all the scars on his body. She knew that after he survived this, he will have another one to join the bunch.
Nina didn't even flinch at the scars or at the amount of blood that was continuing to leak from the wound.
As Nina began cleaning and stitching up the wound, Jesper, Wylan, and Matthias watched on.
"Matthias, what happened?" Wylan asked him. Matthias just shook his head, he didn't know. They would have to wait until Kaz was stable before asking him any questions. But that look of fear. Matthias knew he was the only one who saw it at the time, but he didn't know what to think of it. "Kaz" and "afraid" didn't go together unless there was a "is never" in between them.
Jesper, who has been quiet since walking into the room, stood there in shock. He felt Wylan take his hand, and it was all he could do to not squeeze it too hard. Kaz. Untouchable, unbeatable, invulnerable Kaz, was dying.