TO A LITTLE KINGDOM, WHO SUFFERS THEN                                               

/ THE NATURE OF AN INSURRECTION.

⸻ Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene I

EN PASSANT.

In a game of chess, this is a special move made by a player to capture an adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an advance.

The en passant capture must be performed immediately after the opponent moves their pawn. If the player does not choose to capture the enemy pawn, they cannot do it later.

CLAUDIUS VERZTIG WAS a lot of things, but she was not a thief.

CLAUDIUS VERZTIG !
( the mirage )

" ONLY BECAUSE I'VE KNOWN FREEDOM "

KAZ BREKKER WAS a lot of things, but he was best at being a thief.

KAZ BREKKER !
( bastard of the barrel )

" I KNOW THAT I'M LOCKED IN YOUR PRISON. "

TELL ME A STORY.

                                                        / ABOUT WHAT?

TELL ME a story of the gods. Tell me a story of heroism. Tell me a story of foul villains; tell me a story of how no matter how hard those villains try, they fall from the stars they've climbed with their lies. Tell me a story of mighty lords falling from their thrones. There is a sick satisfaction in tragedies— a brutality of what is real and what is not; and how men seem to cry but never learn.

TELL ME the story of our undoing. You, with your dark-eyed stare, and me; a fool with her heart on her sleeve. You, as a young boy. My red ribbon around your hands. Your dimpled, starry-eyed smile, those colored cards disappearing behind the loose sleeves of your shirt. You with a mustache of chocolate above your lips, me, my eyes wide and open. Your laugh, young and wild, as Jordie— I can't seem to forget the names— ruffles your hair.

THEN there was you— hands gloved, voice rough. Dirtyhands. Bastard of the Barrel. Lieutenant of the Dregs. I'd heard what you'd done to that boy who'd posed as Filip. But you hadn't come for me. Why hadn't you? Tell me, Kaz—why hadn't you?

Kaz Rietveld, where are you? 

⸻ would you remember me? i had a red ribbon. it was around your hands.  

ANYTHING. JUST SAY SOMETHING.

                                                                                   / ( he looked out into the ocean. a pause. then: silence. )

KETTERDAM WAS A CITY that favored those who helped themselves. Claudius Verztig might just be one of them.

BASED ON THE SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY.

DISCLAIMER !

the grishaverse belongs to leigh bardugo. the six of crows duology, its storyline, none of it belongs to me. i only own claudius verztig and her storyline, along with some other original characters who appear along the way.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

in light of s&b season 2 release, i've finally decided to publish a grishaverse fanfiction. finally.

honestly, it was so hard to pick a character to write on because i wanted to write separate fanfictions on every one of them, but kaz brekker won the lottery so here we are.

i hope you enjoy whatever chaos i've cooked up for you :') as an amateur writer, i'm always open to feedback, so please feel free to constructively critique my writing at any point in time.

if you steal my original characters/ the part of the plot of this fanfiction that i own, i'll have you know that i'm a fairly good coder and i'll have two hitmen at your home within 24 hours.

that being said, thank you so much for giving this story a chance! happy reading :)

elle x

DATES !

started: 3/12/23

ended: —

AND THE HEAVENS CRIED.