"Dream in the light, dance in the dark, you fill the spaces inside of my heart."

—We go down together, Dove Cameron, Khalid.

As soon as Kaz arrived, he was shouting orders at his crew, sending anxious looks down to the girl in his arms. The pain in his leg was horrible, worse than when he had first broke it but he had to keep going. Locating Nina, ignoring any help from Jesper, he hurried down belowdecks and demanded that Wylan moved so he could lay Trixie down, Inej hurrying in behind him, anxiously looking at her friend.

     Bickering followed between Nina and Kaz until he was dismissed by the heartrender, for 'making her nervous'. Begrudgingly, he left and headed straight to him, the man who'd caused all this. Flashes of Trixie covered in blood passed in his mind and he subconsciously looked down to his shirt, entirely covered in her blood. He wanted him to suffer for what he'd done to her.

      Matthias and Jesper approached Kaz, on his orders, dragging Oomen over to the rail, his hands bound. It made him think of Trixie, how she always had a talent in tying people up, the way her hands would smoothly knot in the rope. She'd tell him it was learnt through being a ballet dancer but he didn't see any connection. Kaz didn't press her for any more answers, she'd probably tell him if she wanted him to know about it.

     "Stand him up." Kaz ordered, no softness in his tone as he glared at the scum before him. Matthias did the honours of hauling Oomen to his feet, the man grinning maliciously as he looked up at the bastard. "Why don't you tell me what brought so many Black Tips out in force tonight?"

     "We owed you." Oomen responded simply.

     "A public brawl with guns out and thirty men packing? I don't think so." Kaz shot back, unimpressed by his response.

      "Geels doesn't like being bested." Oomen snickered and all Kaz wanted to do was wash that happy grin off his face.

     "I could fit Geels' brains in the toe of my boot, and Big Bolliger was his only source inside the Dregs." Kaz quipped, wishing the blood that painted his shirt was his and not Trixie's, he should bleed for what he'd done.

     "Maybe he—." Oomen began but was interrupted by Kaz's retaliation.

     "I want you to think real careful now, Oomen. Geels probably thinks you're dead, so there are no rules of barter here. I can do what I want with you." Kaz shrugged, his hands tapping against the railing as he spoke nonchalantly. It was then that Oomen spat in his face and Jesper's eyes widened as he waited to see how dirtyhands would react to this. Kaz merely dug into his coat pocket, taking out a handkerchief and carefully wiping it off his face. "Hold him."

      A knife appeared in Kaz's hand, a little wicked blade that he'd found slipped into his pocket one night after his first encounter with Trixie. He'd always got a knife or two stashed away but this one, this one was different, it never left him. It felt oddly symbolic, using a present from Trixie to get revenge for what he'd done to her, dragging the cool blade across Oomen's eye. He went from brow to cheekbone. A second cut was made, going in the opposite connection to for a perfectly neat 'X'.

      Oomen was screaming in pure agony while Kaz merely wiped his knife clean, returning it to the comfort his sleeve. His gloved fingers moved into the man's eye socket and a shriek of terror passed by his lips as the bastard pulled out his eyeball, blood gushing all over his face. From beside him, Wylan could he heard gagging from the sight but he paid no attention, tossing the eyeball overboard as he pulled out the handkerchief he'd used prior.

     The handkerchief was jammed into the socket while he grabbed ahold of Oomen's jaw, red smears painting his face. Kaz's rage was boiling him, he couldn't explain it but just looking at the man before him made him feel pure disgust. It felt as if something within him switched and replaced him with the need for vengeance, for Trixie.

     "Listen to me," he hissed, his face mere inches from Oomen's, "you have two choices. You tell me what I want to know, and we drop you at our next port with your pockets full of enough coin to get you sewn up and buy you passage back to Kerch. Or I take the other eye, and I repeat this conversation with a blind man."

     "It was just a job." Oomen spoke, sounding a lot more into the conversation now that he'd lost something important to him. "Geels got five thousand kruge to bring the Black Tips out in force. We pulled in some Razorgulls, too."

     "Then why not more men? Why not double your odds?" Kaz quizzed, his gaze remaining harsh and cruel.

      "You were supposed to be on the boat when it blew! We were just supposed to take care of the stragglers." Oomen explained through his whimpers, his body filled with pure agony.

     "Who hired you?" Kaz questioned and when there was no response his voice became quieter as he continued. "Don't make me ask again, Oomen, whoever it was can't protect you now."

      "He'll kill me." Oomen refused, shaking his head as he sobbed.

      "And I'll make you wish for death, so you have to weigh those options." Kaz shot back, death would be too nice for a man like Oomen, he wanted him to suffer but he knew he was running out of time.

      "Pekka Rollins," Oomen sobbed out his response, "it was Pekka Rollins!"

      "Saints," Jesper voiced the group's concerns with the name. "We are so screwed."

      "Is Rollins leading the crew himself?" Kaz asked Oomen slowly.

      "What crew?"

      "To Fjerda."

     "I don't know about no crew. We were just supposed to stop you from getting out of the harbour."

      "I see." Kaz spoke, hiding his shock as he looked down at the man.

     "I need a medik. Can you take me to a medik now?" Oomen begged Kaz, hoping the agony would go away.

     "Of course." Kaz spoke sarcastically. "Right this way." He took Oomen by the lapels and hoisted him off his feet, bracing his body against the cold railing.

     "I told you what you wanted!" Oomen screamed, struggling against his hold. "I did what you asked!"

     Kaz leaned in closer to the man, making sure that no one else could hear it when he spoke his next words. "My dancer would love the honour of doing this, but thanks to you shes unable to, so I'll just take her place." Without another word, he tipped Oomen into the sea, his expression blank and emotionless as he listened to Wylan's pleads of horror.

     Cheers flooded her ears as she hurried off the stage, excitement buzzing within her as she practically ran to her dressing room. She enjoyed ballet, underneath all the orders and demands her mother spat at her and the ideals she had to follow her, it also granted her freedom. Being on the stage, surrounded by nothing but music, it was her freedom, it was what allowed her to be herself and leave who she was. There was no violence, there was no thought of how her mother would react if she did it.

     The excitement died down as she crashed into the wall, rubbing her head tiredly as she sighed. A giggle past her lips as she realised the idiocy of the situation, God she was going crazy. Footsteps made her laughter died down as she turned her head, hearing that familiar click of a cane. Of course, he has to witness this scene, no doubt theres going to be an insult in his next words to her.

     "Van Der Woodsen, do you get even more stupider every time we meet?" Kaz questioned, looking down at the blonde sat on the floor as she laughed to herself.

     "Yes." Trixie answered simply, shrugging as she relaxed her head on the wall next to her. "Why are you here, Kaz?" Before he could answer she interrupted once again, asking yet another question. "And don't say it's another job because I'm not that stupid, so, why are you here?"

     "You left this." Kaz replied, throwing the pink ribbon at the girl who caught it quickly, inspecting it slowly.

     "In case you haven't noticed, Brekker, I own a lot of ribbon." Trixie commented, motioning to her hair where another pink ribbon sat.

     "Next time I'll make note of it." Kaz shrugged, resting his weight on his cane as she looked down at the ribbon with her lips upturned ever so slightly.

     "So," she began slowly, pulling herself off the floor, "do you have anywhere to be right now?"

     "Depends." Kaz responded, no emotion on his face, as usual, as he waited for Trixie to explain what she wanted.

     "Oh that's great, follow me, I want to show you something." Trixie happily told him, heading down the hallway as he reluctantly found himself following her, curiosity overtaking him.

     "You better not be getting plans to murder me." Kaz commented as he fell into step with the girl, listening to the sound of her laughter at his ridiculous comment. He swore his heart clenched as he heard the noise, wishing he could have a way to hear it constantly, like a sirens song, he was addicted to the drug that was her laugh.

     "As if I would be able to." Trixie snickered, shaking her head as she shot him an incredulous look. "I'm literally being so nice to you and you and make a morbid comment like that." Her hands were thrown in the air exasperatedly as she led him down another corridor. "No wonder you have no friends."

      "What was that?" Kaz questioned in amusement that she had the guts to make comments like that to his face.

      "Nothing." Trixie mumbled, pushing open a door and welcoming him in. "Welcome to my favourite place in this entire shit show."

     A rooftop was where she'd brought him and he looked down at her as her eyes sparkled while explaining how much it meant to her, how it gave her an escape from reality, alike ballet. She told him how she'd come up here to practice ballet or just to watch the stars shine down on her. His lips upturned ever so slightly but it was gone within a flash, as if it had never happened.

     Trixie led him over to the ledge where she threw her legs over it, swinging them ever so slightly as she looked down. Kaz stood where he was for a few seconds before the sound of clicking followed and she felt a presence beside her. They remained in silence for a few minutes, watching the sun set with shared curiosity. Both their minds were whirling at a million miles per hour, questions that they knew they couldn't ask.

      "Why show me this?" Kaz was the one to break the silence, looking at her as she avoided his eye contact, tugging on the end of her dress with a small smile.

      "I come here when I need time off, time to escape reality, or, when I'm feeling sad and just don't want to be around people. You seemed sad and I thought maybe it would cheer you up." Trixie mumbled, her gaze remaining on the sunset.

     "Seeing the stars wouldn't cheer me up, nor would solitude." Kaz commented and she frowned, a detail he noticed. "It's an alright thought, I suppose."

     "I'll take it." Trixie shrugged and pulled herself off the ledge.

     "Where are you going?" Kaz asked before he could stop himself, cursing himself for letting his thoughts be vocalised.

     "You just said solitude and seeing the stars wouldn't work so this entire thing was pointless, I'm sorry I wasted your time." Trixie shrugged and went to leave but Kaz raised his cane to stop her from leaving.

      "As we are already here whats the point in leaving, besides, we have matters to discuss." Kaz lied easily and the girl raised her brow, as if she was staring right through him, seeing his lies. Still she said nothing and took her seat beside him, allowing the silence to engulf them once again.

     "There is no matters to discuss, is there?" Trixie asked quietly after around ten minutes of silence.

      Silence followed her response and she allowed her lips to upturn ever so slightly, God, Kaz Brekker was truly an enigma.

Words~2118.
{edited:no}