For the first time in a long time, Jesper Fahey's hands were trembling as he gripped onto his two revolvers. Anxious didn't even begin to explain how the boy felt, eyes glued to the scene taking place in the streets below. Currently, he was perched up on one of the balconies of a Dime Lion casino. However, it gave him a wide field of view over the bustling streets of Ketterdam.

Kaz Brekker stood in his typical confident stance, eyes trained on the man they'd come here to meet: Pekka Rollins. It was an exchange, yet, these two always had something else up their sleeves. And Jesper did not support this exchange. He never would. Every cell in his body was vibrating with nervous energy.

"Brekker. I'm going to trust you've brought it," Pekka questioned, his eyes fixated on Kaz. Kaz was leaning heavily against his cane, an expression of disinterest on his face; as if he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. But every Crow would know that it was just a façade. The Bastard of the Barrel was worried. Because they couldn't afford to mess this up.

"Quite foolish of you to trust me, really. But yes, I have it," Kaz replied, straightening himself up a bit and gesturing towards one of the doorways.

Matthias Helvar walked out with a large trunk in his hands. He made it to Kaz's side before dropping the box, all attention hyper-fixated on it. Pekka gestured towards the trunk, wanting them to open it and prove that they had what he asked for. Matthias unlatched the clasp, pulling the lid open and displaying what was in the box. A pleased expression settled over Pekka's expression, apparently seeing exactly what he'd wanted to see.

Now it was Pekka's turn to gesture towards one of the casinos. And from the doorway marched two men. The first was one of Pekka's grunts, dragging the other individual behind him. The second man was the reason that Jesper's breathing had hitched, all thoughts ceasing to exist in his mind and instead using the space to stress about this situation. Wylan Van Eck was being practically dragged by the grunt, wrists bound together with fraying rope and attired in a dingy white shirt and burlap trousers. Dirt and grime were caked into his alabaster white skin, meanwhile his golden hair was a mess of unkempt curls. Fury ignited deep inside of Jesper's soul.

Wylan Van Eck had been taken after the Crows' last heist at one of the Ketterdam merchants' mansions a few weeks back. He was supposed to set off some explosives as a distraction, but it never happened. And the merchling was never one to be late. Jesper had known something was wrong almost immediately. Wylan was completely gone without a trace. Inej was sent to scour the streets in search, but still couldn't find anything. Only a few nights ago, Kaz received a letter from Pekka Rollins. Jesper had been ready to raise hell almost immediately, but Kaz wouldn't allow him to. Instead, a plan was conceived to get Wylan back from the Barrel Boss.

"Ah, good. Glad to see that we both held up our end of the deal," Pekka joked; Kaz didn't laugh. Instead, Kaz's attention drifted towards Wylan, who looked like an absolute wreck.

"Great. Let's trade," Kaz snapped as Pekka sighed, wrapping an arm around Wylan and pulling him into his side. A dagger was placed against Wylan's side as Jesper's insides froze over. Carefully, he aimed a revolver at Pekka.

"Not so fast, Brekker. I want something else, too. And you knew about that," Pekka demanded as Kaz narrowed his eyes down.

"Yeah? And you're not getting it. Give me back my demo man. And preferably unharmed," Kaz's voice was sharp and his cold stare was lethal. Honestly, it was amazing that Pekka hadn't died just from the hostile glare.

Inej dropped from the rooftops down to Kaz's side, annoyance setting on his expression. She didn't even acknowledge Kaz, her eyes remaining on Pekka Rollins, who stared right back at her with immense interest. She rose to her feet, holding her chin up with confidence while beginning to head towards Matthias and the trunk. Kaz grabbed onto her elbow, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Inej. Stop. We're not doing this," Kaz's voice was low and flooded with sincerity. Jesper's mind was clouded with confusion, not fully understanding what was going on.

"It's the only way, Kaz," Inej replied, her tone being certain. She had clearly debated this for quite some time, knowing that she didn't have many other options.

"Van Eck in exchange for Miss Ghafa and the contents of the chest," Pekka Rollins stated as Matthias's eyes popped wide open. Meanwhile Jesper felt as if he could no longer get air into his lungs. There's no way. Kaz would never make that deal.

"Forget it," Kaz growled as Jesper's stomach dropped, feeling as if his entire world had just been flipped upside down. Wylan was right there; Jesper could see him. Everything inside of him yearned to shoot Pekka, jump over the balcony, and hold Wylan.

Inej narrowed her eyes before shifting her gaze back towards Kaz. She tore her elbow free of his grasp, glaring at him as if she was daring him to grab at her again. He didn't. Instead, he watched as she turned back around and marched towards Pekka Rollins, dragging the trunk along with her.

"There. Now, give Wylan back," Inej demanded as Pekka shoved Wylan towards Kaz. Kaz caught onto Wylan's shirt, preventing him from hitting the ground, leather gloves clasped tightly around the thin white material.

Jesper took note that Wylan was extremely skinny, seeming to have been mistreated during his time in Pekka's care. Jesper still wanted to shoot the Barrel Boss. Matthias removed a dagger from his belt, severing the discolored rope and freeing Wylan. He wrung out his wrists, which seemed red and agitated from rope burn. Jesper's mind raced, still wanting to vault the balcony rails and go check in on Wylan himself.

"Such a valiant heroine, aren't you, Inej Ghafa? However, I still need you to be the ruthless Wraith for me," Pekka Rollins explained his intentions, but Inej didn't even seem fazed by these statements. Instead, she stood patiently at Pekka's side, eyes trained on Kaz.

"Inej. Don't. You can't," Wylan whispered, his voice extremely raspy and breaking. He was losing his voice, actually. Then he fell into a coughing fit, hacking uncontrollably. Jesper's heart broke a bit more.

Inej didn't acknowledge Wylan's statement, but she did give him a saddened glance. Her eyes shifted back to Kaz immediately afterwards. Then she subtly nodded, which resulted in Kaz straightening up a bit. Kaz held two fingers down, which was Nina's signal.

On cue, Pekka collapsed onto his knees, grasping at his chest in a futile attempt to get the pain to stop. He blinked a few times, eyes meeting Kaz's glare. Kaz, on the other hand, appeared to be completely unbothered by this. Kaz raised a hand, and Pekka Rollins stopped suffering.

"How are you doing that? Your Heartrender is broken. I know she is," Pekka seethed, narrowing his eyes down on Kaz. However, Kaz glanced back at Inej before displaying three fingers. This was Jesper's cue.

Jesper instantly looked up to the sky, eyes locking on the dark clouds rolling overhead. Then he shifted his attention over towards what he had been looking for. He pulled the hammer back on one of the revolvers, taking aim and firing. The large clock exploded, going up in flames after hitting the explosive that Inej had planted there earlier that day; it was the exact explosive that Wylan had left behind at the merchant's mansion when he was taken.

Shrieks filled the streets, resulting in chaos breaking out. Tourists were sprinting into hiding, attempting to evade whatever was going on. Pekka seemed confused only for a moment, but Kaz's calm reaction made him understand that this had been his plan. Pekka grabbed onto Inej's wrist, resulting in him earning a dagger lodged into his shoulder. He released Inej immediately, meanwhile Kaz made the signal for them to retreat back to the Crow Club.

Jesper was quick, sprinting out of the building and finding his way onto the cobblestone streets of Ketterdam. His mind had one thought running through it, and that was finding Wylan. And making sure Wylan was okay. And killing Pekka Rollins slowly for ever doing anything terrible to Wylan. But he didn't slow down, dashing as quickly as he could until he rammed directly into someone, resulting in both of them falling over.

"Watch where you're going," Jesper seethed, looking up and finding Nina, who seemed just as annoyed as he was. But the two of them only nodded when they noticed that it was each other.

"C'mon!" Nina chided, pulling herself up and dragging Jesper back to his feet. Then the two of them were running once again, winding down the narrow alleyways and sneaking through crowds of strangers. Eventually, the two of them had found their way back at the Crow Club.

The pair of them sprinted up the steps and into Kaz's office, which was the rendezvous point that the group had agreed upon. They weren't the first ones to make it back, either. Inej stood in the room, perched in the windowsill and looking out at the streets. She glanced back when she heard them enter, nodding a slight bit before casting her gaze back out the window.

"Where's Brekker?" Nina demanded as Inej sighed, peering over at the two of them.

"Helvar branched off to save some of the people who were a bit too close to the explosion. He's a hero like that. Kaz was with Wylan, so they're moving a bit slower than we were," Inej explained to the two of them.

The door was shoved open after Inej spoke, resulting in the trio within the room turning and seeing the other three Crows on the opposite side. Relief flooded the room almost instantaneously.

"Are you alright?" Almost everyone asked as once, with the exception of Kaz, of course. But he was staring at Inej with eyes that practically asked the same question.

Kaz made his way across the room, standing next to Inej, who was still sitting on the windowsill. Matthias was quick to make his way to Nina, who was immediately fussing over how she was alright and that using her new powers hadn't been too big of a hassle for her. That left Jesper, who was now staring into Wylan's clearwater blue eyes.

"Okay, I have to know, what the hell did you do to Pekka? He's right; Nina's powers don't work how they're supposed to anymore," Inej asked, her eyes trained on Kaz. The Bastard of the Barrel turned to glance at Nina, who was smirking with pride.

"He's dying. Cancer. Dead cells are rapidly spreading throughout his body. And Nina can control dead cells," Kaz explained as everyone looked between Nina and Kaz with shock. Then again, leave it to them to come up with brilliant ideas like that. Then, Kaz shifted his attention over towards Wylan and Jesper.

"Jesper, take Wylan down to get something to drink. He's dehydrated. There's an empty room reserved for him downstairs, as well. Make sure he doesn't have any fatal wounds," Kaz demanded as Jesper nodded, more than happy to care after Wylan while he recovered.

The pair made their way down the steps, where Jesper grabbed a cup of water from the bartender and made their way towards the secluded room that Kaz had reserved for Wylan to get rest in. Jesper offered Wylan some clean and comfortable clothes, which Wylan changed into without argument. A gasp escaped Jesper's throat involuntarily as soon as Wylan removed his shirt, displaying bruises, gashes, smaller slits, dried blood, blisters, and burn marks all over Wylan's once perfect skin. Jesper's jaw fell open, feeling completely horror-struck. Wylan caught his eyes, looking away in embarrassment almost immediately, cheeks turning red.

"I'm going to kill him..." Jesper grumbled, anger welling up in his chest. His hands twitched for his revolvers, wanting so desperately to march out of this room and shoot Pekka Rollins square in the face. But Wylan's miniscule head shake was enough to keep Jesper rooted in place.

"Just... I'm fine, Jesper..." Wylan mumbled quietly, pulling on the clean shirt and pants, quickly attempting to hide the wounds that Pekka had forced onto his body.

"Bullshit. Wylan, look at me," Jesper demanded, taking a few steps closer towards the other boy. He extended one of his hands, cradling Wylan's cheek in his palm, inspecting his face rather closely. He had faded bruising on his face and a nasty-looking black eye. The white-hot rage began to spill over inside of Jesper.

"Yeah. You're not okay. You need to let me tell Kaz you need a Healer. Please. Your wounds will get infected and it will be awful if you don't," Jesper requested, practically begging. But he was far beyond worried about the boy standing before him.

Now that Wylan was changed, Jesper sat him down on the bed and placed the cup of water in his hands. Wylan took a careful sip from the glass, then proceeded to drink the remainder of the glass rather quickly, his body craving the liquid. Jesper took the empty cup and placed it on the nightstand, looking expectantly at Wylan. Instead of quickly replying, Wylan grabbed onto Jesper's hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Okay..." Wylan murmured, anxiously messing with Jesper's fingers. And Jesper allowed him to, knowing it made him feel a bit better.

"I'll go get you some more water, too. But you need to get some rest. You're exhausted and your body needs to relax," Jesper hesitantly explained to him, gingerly cupping one of Wylan's cheeks in a comforting manner. Wylan leaned into Jesper's warm palm, seeking refuge in the other boy's presence. And it was working.

"I don't want to be alone..." Wylan quietly mumbled, his voice still a jagged mess due to his raspy throat. Jesper blinked a couple times, allowing himself to fully experience the heartbreak that he felt just from hearing Wylan say those few words.

"Okay..." Jesper breathed, opening the door and looking down the hall, finding Nina and Matthias laughing at one of the tables in the bar. Nina caught Jesper's stare, arching one of her eyebrows as Jesper nodded for her to come over to him.

Matthias seemed a bit confused as he watched Nina leave, but it seemed to make more sense when he caught sight of Jesper at the end of the hall. The Fjerdan tipped his metal tankard all the way back, allowing the dregs of the liquid to burn as they went down his throat. Nina placed her full attention on Jesper, standing before him and attempting to catch a glimpse of Wylan within the room.

"Is he okay?" Nina asked as Jesper sighed, shaking his head.

"No. I need you to tell Brekker that he needs a Healer. And soon. And if you could bring me another cup of water for him, I would really appreciate it," Jesper explained as Nina grinned and nodded.

"Anything for Wylan," She replied as Jesper weakly smiled, watching as Nina went back into the bar, talking with Matthias about something. Probably sending him to go and finish one of her assigned tasks. Meanwhile, Jesper turned his attention back towards the boy in the room.

Jesper sat on the bed, aiding Wylan in laying down and getting comfortable. Wylan was quick to grab onto one of Jesper's hands again, using both of his small and pale hands to anxiously mess with Jesper's fingers. Jesper couldn't deny how pure and sweet he found these innocent actions.

No, Wylan Van Eck wasn't all fluffy and sweet; he is a Crow, after all. But Jesper always knew how to peer into Wylan's soft side. And Jesper absolutely loved how much child-like wonder was locked away within the Van Eck boy. Watching Wylan beam when hearing a song he likes or witnessing the joy that settles over his expression when he watches some of the fish swim around in the canals were some of the few things that Jesper would never get tired of seeing. After all, finding any form of happiness in Ketterdam was rare; therefore, Jesper had to hold onto what he had found and preserve it as best he could.

"Where does it hurt the worst?" Jesper questioned, watching over Wylan with immense concern. Wylan seemed to think about it for a moment before motioning to where the worst of his burn marks had been; located on his stomach.

"It'll be okay. Nina is going to get you a Healer," Jesper promised, pushing the cloth off of Wylan's stomach, exposing the large burn mark, which seemed to be really agitated. Carefully, Jesper leaned down and pressed the ghost of a kiss onto the pale flesh next to the seared skin. Wylan inhaled a sharp breath, his entire face turning pink.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Wylan's soft voice asked as Jesper exhaled a sigh, displaying his uncertainty.

"I'm not too sure. But, no matter how long it takes, I'm going to sit here and wait with you. You don't want to be alone, so you won't be. You're lucky that I specialize in not leaving people alone," Jesper breathed with a smile tugging at his lips. Wylan weakly smiled back at him, glad to have Jesper at his side.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jesper asked softly, referring to Wylan's time in Pekka Rollins's care. Wylan seemed to go stark white, but he slowly nodded. He clearly didn't want to speak about his experience, but he knew that he needed to tell someone.

"He... Well, I didn't see Pekka too much... But they were trying to get plans out of me and... And they wanted information on the rest of you... Especially Kaz... They wanted to know where we were all from and all of the traumatic experiences we'd been through... And... And I told them nothing... I knew I couldn't... So... They know everything that they wanted to know about me, but nothing about the rest of you... And they would torture me in different ways when I wouldn't speak... And they didn't feed me the whole time and... And... And then Pekka showed up and gave me this..." Wylan muttered, his voice low as he pointed to his left shoulder blade. Jesper was a bit confused by that final statement, but then understood that Wylan wanted him to see something.

Wylan pushed himself up a bit, meanwhile Jesper pulled back the collar of the smaller boy's shirt in order to see whatever Wylan had been talking about. And then Jesper's world froze. It was so quiet that Jesper was almost certain everyone in the Crow Club could hear his heart completely shatter. It wasn't a tattoo, that much was for sure. It was a branding. And it was the Dime Lions' symbol. The flesh around the burned mark was scarred and irritated, showing that it hadn't been taken care of.

"Do you think the Healer can get rid of it...?" Wylan quietly asked as Jesper exhaled a shaky sigh.

"I really hope so..." Jesper confirmed, fixing Wylan's shirt and having him lay back down. Jesper tightened his hold on Wylan's hand, wanted to make everything better immediately. He wished he could've taken Wylan's place. Wylan Van Eck didn't deserve a single bad thing to happen to him, and Jesper Fahey would personally make sure that everyone who ever harmed this boy would suffer.

Kaz and Inej walked into the room with one of the boys from the White Rose. Everyone's eyes immediately fell to Wylan's exposed stomach, which was covered in burns, blood, and scabs. For a brief moment, fury flashed across Kaz's face, but he was quick to mask it up again. The boy sat down at Wylan's side, looking at him with anxiety.