Hey guys! Been a bit too long hasn't it... Anyway, I finally got myself to write something! The idea for this chapter was inspired by the fic "Wraith's End" by Flora Silverthrush (if you are reading this then I thank for inspiring me to write). This fic is placed at the same time as Flora's fic when Inej is injured and Kaz is thinking about her above deck. I did not copy Flora's fic word for word (I would never do that)!

Okay, hope I clarified... Anyway, I want to thank all of the support, You make my bad days turn good! Feel free to suggest any chapter ideas, I will try to do them! Okay, This intro comment is becoming too long so I will stop it here!

Disclaimer: All Characters, Settings, and other stuff belong to Leigh Bardugo!

Kaz leaned out on the damp railing of the small schooner. The stormy water around him seemed to understand his turmoil as it frothed and foamed against the dying light of day. As Kaz looked to the misty horizon he could barely see the shadowed figure of Ketterdam, long left behind.

If death was a toxic gas, then Kaz was sure that it was seeping throughout the ship. Through the cracks in the floorboards and into the lungs his Wraith below. Kaz could feel it in his heart as if the unhealed wound of Jordie was being torn at again.

No, Kaz decided. He was the ruthless Bastard of the Barrel, Dirtyhands himself! He would not ruin his reputation for a single Suli girl!

Kaz looked down at his midnight black gloves, What would he do if Inej died? Would he cut his losses and find a new spider? Or would he crack, The loss of Inej too great?

Kaz thought back to the countless days of him and Inej spending sleepless nights planning their next scheme or shoveling food into their mouths as they rushed to the next job. Kaz couldn't deny that he had become close to Inej, for the past few years he had spent most of his waking hours by her side.

To think of Inej as cold and dead was nearly impossible for Kaz's mind to accept. Her hazel eyes glassy, her caramel skin pale, her clear voice never scorning him again...

Kaz always knew their time together would end, he just never really thought it could conclude like this. Inej doesn't deserve to die like this, in the musty bellows of a ship. Kaz knew this, he knew that Inej deserved to die with her knives in her hands and a smile on her face.

If Kaz was a good person and not broken he would be below deck, maybe even holding Inej's hand and demanding her to stay alive. But Kaz isn't a good person, he deals with the pain of others and profits of their misfortunes.

Kaz doesn't do petty acts, he doesn't do "kindness". When he saw Oomen once again on deck he couldn't contain his rage, he couldn't just let the man that struck his Wraith leave without paying for it. When Kaz felt his gloved fingers slide in Oomen's eye socket he felt a deep sense of satisfaction, and when he finally shoved the dreaded man overboard and saw him sink within the waves Kaz couldn't help but feel powerful.

Kaz was a monster. He knew this and accepted it, mostly he held pride in it. But people don't like monsters. In children tales monsters never win, they die, and everybody's happy. Kaz never thought he would die a heroes death, instead, he would get gutted in a shadowed alley. The man who killed him would celebrate it, maybe even share a drink over it.

Inej doesn't deserve him. Since the day Kaz first saw her he knew she was a queen fallen into bad company. Just like Kaz, she fell down on her luck. She lost her home, her innocence, her family, and her freedom all in just one swell swoop.

The first (and last) time she snuck up on him, when she was still trapped in the Menagerie, he could she how she was broken, a ghost in living skin. He often wondered what made him demand Per Haskell to pay Inej's indenture. Was it the way she crept like death itself or was it because he saw the look of loss in her eyes he knew so well?

Kaz couldn't deny that Inej was a worthy investment, she became the thief of people's secrets, he made her the Wraith. He turned a forgotten Suli girl into a nightmare of men's dreams, he stained an innocents girl's hands red with blood. And yet, throughout it all, he couldn't change the way she saw the world, as though magic was pulsing within everything. Kaz had always mocked her about it, but in truth, he couldn't help but be in wonder that even though she faced so much unfairness she still believed there was good in the world.

Kaz sighed deeply, leaning on the railing and glaring at the horizon wasn't going to do any good. And what was he kidding himself, Inej was going to live, she had to. After all she lived through, something like this wasn't going to remove her from the world.

Kaz lifted his stern chin, "The only thing this job has done for me yet is make my brain go soft" Kaz mumbled to himself.

Then with a quick spin on his good leg, Kaz went to do what a monster does best... Wreak havoc.

Okay, hoped you liked it. It was a bit short, but I felt like I had to write something for you guys. I don't know how long it will be until my next update, my life has been a bit crazy lately (what with school and family problems).

Guest Comment Responses:

Guest: Thank you for the support and love! And here is your next update so enjoy!

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Thank you - FlyingCats777