Vellgeluk, the island where Kaz and his group met Jan Van Eck.

Kaz

"NO!" Kaz screamed, his eyes fixed on the Squaller who was flying away with Inej limp in its arms.

He couldn't believe he let Van Eck take everything away. Just mere minutes ago, he was about to walk away with millions of kruge in hand.

As he felt his knees buckle underneath him, he slowly descended to the ground, his gloved fingers brushing away the salty trails of tears that had begun to gather at the corners of his eyes. The act of crying was foreign to him; he had long since convinced himself that he didn't have the emotional capacity for it. Yet here he was, tears streaming down his face as his mind raced with a jumble of conflicting emotions that he couldn't quite make sense of.

As his knees crushed the soft dirt beneath him, he looked down at his hands, which were slightly trembling.

He had lost. Kaz Brekker doesn't lose. He had let everyone down. He had let himself down. He let Kaz Rietveld come back.

He couldn't let this happen. He was stronger than this. He was Kaz Brekker.

He slowly rose, looking over at his group, who had gathered and were staring at him as if they had seen a ghost, as if he was the ghost.

"What?" He asked, gazing at them through teary eyes.

"I've never seen you like this before, Kaz. It's not the end of the world, we'll find Inej-," Matthias started.

"You have no idea what it feels like!" screamed Kaz, jabbing his finger into Matthias' chest. "To lose everything-"

The big man shoved back at Kaz, almost pushing him to the ground. "Yes, I have! What about when Nina betrayed me, huh? I was in that hell of a prison for six months! I thought that I would never get out, that I would die there like everyone else."

Kaz glared at Matthias, his anger overpowering his sadness. "And yet she still came back for you," he spat out, the bitterness sweeping through his tone.

"Stop it!" Jesper screamed, going in between the two fighting boys.

They were both breathing heavily, and Kaz turned around and looked up at the sky. Jesper walked over to Kaz, putting a hand on his shoulder in a futile attempt to comfort him. Kaz shrugged his hand off, tilting his head down. Jesper spinned him around, placing his a dark skinned hand on Kaz's jaw, and his other hand on Kaz's upper arm. He felt himself tense up as Jesper's cool fingers held onto his face tightly.

Kaz looked past Jesper's face, giving a hard stare to Matthias.

"Look at me," Jesper urged as he held Kaz's jaw tightly, aligning his eyes with Kaz's. "They don't call you dirtyhands for no reason. You're not afraid to do anything, as long as it means getting what you want. Just because you don't have a plan doesn't mean everything's over. You're Kaz Brekker. You don't let people do this to you and get away with it."

Kaz let out a light chuckle, sniffling a little bit and looking down at the ground. He was so embarrassed that he let the others see him like this. Jesper dropped his hand from Kaz's face, turning around with Kaz to face Matthias and Wylan.

Kaz looked up at the giant Fjerdan, who still had an angry appearance on his face.

"I'm sorry for that, Helvar." Kaz sighed, running his hands through his hair.

Matthias grunted, "It's nothing I'm not used to from you, Brekker. You better watch that mouth, because one day you won't be able to use it anymore if you keep talking to me like that."

Kaz looked over at Wylan, who still had the appearance of Kuwei Yul-Bo. Nina really had done an immaculate job tailoring Wylan.

"Why the long face?" Jesper teased, walking over to Wylan and ruffling his short black hair.

Wylan blushed, looking like he was trying to hold back a smile. What was with the two of them? It seemed like they were always flirting, always playing around.

He couldn't relate to their lighthearted banter, their effortless charm. Kaz had always been guarded, careful not to reveal too much of himself to anyone. He didn't have time for frivolous interactions, for the risk of growing attached, getting hurt. But that was exactly what had happened with Inej. He let himself grow too close to her, too reliant on her. He promised himself that he would never make that same mistake again.

"I just want Nina to change me back to my old face," Wylan sighed, snapping Kaz out of his thoughts. "I miss the old me."

"I miss the old you, too." Jesper said, wrapping an arm around Wylan's shoulder and peering down at him. Kaz's eyes darted around as he uncomfortably watched the boys embrace each other, clearing his throat to change the subject.

"I told Specht to row the longboat out to us if we don't make contact by dusk, so he should be here in a few hours," he informed the others, straightening his back. Kaz's eyes had dried up, his nose clear. "We have nothing to do but wait." he continued, walking past the other three boys and sitting down on a rocky ledge.

He let his legs hang off the ledge, peering at the sand barely a meter below where he was sitting. His mind was racing, but he felt calm. He knew that no matter what, Van Eck would get what was coming to him.

"Looks like he's back to his emotionless self." Matthias said.

Kaz rotated his torso, turning around and scowling at Matthias.

"At least he's honest." uttered Wylan, his Kerch voice not matching his Shu face.

Better terrible truths than kind lies.

Matthias walked over to Kaz, leaving Jesper and Wylan standing beneath the trees. He grunted as he sat down, balancing himself with his hands and letting his legs hang down in a similar fashion to Kaz's.

Kaz looked up at Ketterdam, the city barely visible over the miles of open sea. He didn't acknowledge Matthias' presence.

"So, what's the plan?" questioned Matthias. Kaz could feel his gaze out of his right periphery. Kaz stayed silent. "You always have a plan, Brekker."

A smile creeped onto his face as he looked over at Matthias. "Of course I do."