00||WHAT ONCE WAS WILL BE AGAIN

ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇꜱᴛᴇʀɴ ꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏʟᴅ

Six figures were standing on the edge of the torn-to-shreds city of Novokribirsk, uneassily eyeing the fold. Two figures were standing closer then all the rest, one gripping his cane as the woman next to him looked at the monstrosity before them. "She'll...she'll come back." Alina told herself, her voice wavering as tears almost brimmed her eyes, threatening to spill over. Mal walked over, holding her from behind as he gave her a coat to keep her warm. "What if..." The tracker almost didn't want to say those words, as if it would make it all too real, as if it would seal her fate. Kaz had almost shot him a withering glare. "Anya will make it."

The rest of the group had joined them, staring out into the fold as they all seemed to swallow nervously. Inej started to pray, hoping, needing her friend to survive, to come back to them all. Zoya clenched and unclenched her hands anxiously. Jesper's breathing had grown erratic, his heart beating a mile a minute. The young Starkov woman hung onto her tracker, grasping his hand in distress as he clenched his jaw. The young barrel boss kept his eyes transfixed on the deadly wall of shadows before him. And then, in the distance, something moved. A severed and half charred volcra head of a volcra was thrown out, rolling to a stop as it bruned up in the sun light. Then, a hand burst through the fold.

Anya staggered out, looking disheveled and dazzed, dragging the volcra's decapitated body out behind her before she let go. The group ran to her, the squaller catching her just in time before she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. The Zemeni man barked out a maddening laugh as the others smiled, the wraith helping the dark haired woman steady her as they set her down on a log near the fire. "Anya Oryalen, the girl who was born to die and fought to live." the sharpshooter remarked. The raven-haired gave him an exhausted half-smile, closing her eyes briefly as she leaned her head against the sun summoner, who parted the hair away from her face.

Dirtyhands handed the Oryalen woman a flask of water that she gingerly took, gulping it down, water dribbling down her chin. "Whoa, calm down!" The Keramzin man noted jokingly. "You try pouring all your power into tearing down the most powerful grisha to have ever lived." she retorted with a smirk. The Ghafa woman raised a skeptical brow at the words of her friends. "He's got some competition for that title in my opinion." She stated, making the young grisha woman chuckle.

A few minutes after the inferni had rested and had gotten a change of clothes from the Fahey man together with the two from Keramzin, she sadly chuck of her kefta and threw it onto the fire together with the golden one of Alina, finally seeing her past burn. Now, she was standing in front of the fold, gazing absently when footsteps and the ticking of a cane came up from behind her, the bastard of the barrel standing next to her. "I wanted to...I wanted to thank you. Most people wouldn't have done what you did." he muttered almost silently, his icy eyes looking at her intently as she chuckled, her hair falling in front of her face. "I think you and I know I am not like most people." She smiled, finally looking up at him as their eyes locked.

"We could use someone like you. I could use someone like you." Kaz uttered softly as he looked at Anya. She drew in a sharp breath, her face faltering slightly as she looked at someone behind him. "I appreciate the offer but I'm afraid I must refuse. Alina needs my help and frankly, she still has a lot to learn regarding hand to hand and power combat." she stated solemnly. "HEY!" The young Starkov woman protested from behind her with a laugh. "WELL IT'S NOT LIKE I'M WRONG AM I?" The raven-haired shouted back, the hint of a smile on her lips before she turned to the young barrel boss once more.

"I need to tell you something." His breath unknowingly hitched in his throat at her words before she spoke. "If I am being honest, the first time I met you, you were kind of a dick. But then again so was I." The Oryalen woman quipped with a grin on her face. "Bold of you to assume either of us stopped." Dirtyhands retorted and the young grisha woman could've sworn she almost saw him smiling. The sun summoner stood up, warily eyeing the three crows. "So, are you still planning on kidnapping me?" she asked sternly. Jesper shook his head before he answered. "Of course not. It would be pretty crappy to kidnap someone who just saved your life." he replied, the bastard of the barrel arching an eyebrow. "Have you found religion too?"

The Keramzin woman stepped forward, taking the studded jewel band that was in her hair from her pocket. "I saw one of the queens wear this in a portrait in the little palace." Kaz noted, his eyebrow still raised. "It's not a gift." Alina snapped slightly. "It's to keep quiet about who I am." The young barrel boss stared at the jewels, weighing his options before pocketing it. "The deal is the deal." He said. Solemn and serious, the young Starkov woman and the inferni looked at the fold as the first spoke. "We are worse off than we were before." she whispered painfully.

"We couldn't have predicted what would happen." Anya replied, her jaw clenched. "Neither did they." the sun summoner retorted, her eyes filled with sadness. "It's not your fault." the tracker said, suddenly standing beside her. "The world will find a way to blame us somehow. They always do." The raven-haired said coldly. Zoya stood up abruptly, a haunted look in her eyes. "I have to go." The dagger expert launched to her feet at thosse words. "You can't go into the fold." she protested. "To Novokribirsk. I had family in that city. I need to know how much of it is lost." the Nazyalensky woman uttered, her voice almost a whisper as she locked eyes with the Oryalen woman. "Liliyana." she whispered, her friend only nodding as she heard her aunt's name.

"It's dangerous to go looking for the dead. What you see may haunt you for the rest of your days." Dirtyhands interrupted. "Not going will haunt me more." The squaller replied, stepping forward to the young grisha woman and Alina. "Now that the Apparat is ruling in the king's stead, you cannot stay in Ravka. He will try to keep his power and blame it on all of us. The people will turn on grisha again. You need to find new allies." she explained, looking between the inferni and the other crows. The young Starkov woman pulled her into a hug, dragging Anya with her before she could run.

As they released one another, Zoya smiled awkwardly. "One day we will come back and knock the Apparat down from his throne. I promise you this." The raven-haired replied. "I still don't like you Alina but...I am grateful for you two." she said, squeezing the Oryalen woman's hand. "Saints become martyrs before they get to be heroes so...stay alive." The Nazyalenskey woman stated as she surveyed the group. "You two will need more than bullets and bravado to survive the people hunting you now." She added, the two women nodding before she took off.

______________*~【☀️】~*_____________

For two days, the group of two had tracked on foot finally arriving at the docks of Os Kervo in exhaustion. "DOCKED IN OS KERVO, GOING TO KETTERDAM NEXT!" A man shouted from the deck of a ship. The crows turned to Anya one last time, Alina and Mal standing behind her. "I guess this is here we actually part our ways." Jesper stated, trying to smile. "Do you think we'll ever see you again?" Inej wondered. "If you know how to stay out of trouble, we won't." The raven-haired retorted with a laugh, locking eyes with the bastard of the barrel for a split second. With a heavy heart, she stepped away as they boarded, walking with the young Starkov woman and the tracker before she looked back one last time. And when she looked, Kaz's icy eyes were already staring back at her.

"SAILING FOR EAMES HARBOR, NOVYI ZEM!" A man on another boat just shouted, the Oryalen woman, the sun summoner and the corporal boarding it quickly. Soon, the sails unfurled and the ship launched itself into sea. "This will be a long passage without the wine." One of the workers complained. "Have a heart." His friend objected. "Novokribirsk is in ruins. The Sun Saint and the Drakon Sankt'ya are dead." The young grisha woman leaned on the railing, her obsidian eyes staring out into sea as the sun was starting to set, Ravka behind her, Novyi Zem ahead of her. "What are you thinking about?" Alina asked as she leaned next to her. "There was one thing that Kirigan underestimated." The inferni said. "What?" The young Starkov woman wondered. Anya only smiled as she looked ahead, the last rays of the sun lighting her face. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙴𝙽𝙳 𝙾𝙵 𝙱𝙾𝙾𝙺 𝙾𝙽𝙴 ━ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙴𝚁𝙽𝙰𝙻 𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙻𝙾𝙶𝚈