Chapter Text
“Oh Look at the Stars and how Beautiful they are even in a dark place like this.”, I said more to myself than anyone else. I am in Ketterdam now and there is nothing I can do about it. They took me here and said I was free. I was not, even if I wanted to believe it. I had no way of leaving Ketterdam even if a ship were to take me somewhere else. They would always be after me. Ketterdam is the only place where I wasn’t hunted, but I was definitely not free.
I had nowhere to stay so I sat at the harbor and watched as the sun went down. I knew I couldn’t stay here for the night. A lot of gangs had their deals here at the Harbor and the dangerous ones were at night when no one was there.
I stood up and walked along a slightly smaller road until I came to a place that seemed fine to stay at for the night. A tavern, or rather a Gambling House, but I didn’t care maybe I could get a room here. My past hasn’t left me with much money. If I didn’t find a job I would starve sooner or later.
I looked up at the sign and it said, “The Crow Club”.
I went in and found myself a seat at the bar, next to me was an older-looking man drinking something that certainly did not appear to be consumable. I wasn’t someone who enjoyed alcohol, so I hoped they had water here, but I wasn't very hopeful.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked. ”I am just gonna take a water please, if you have one,” I said with a hopefully yet exhausted smile.
“Here you go.” he put down a glass of fresh water “Thanks, how much is it?” I asked. “Water is free, after all, we don’t need to pay for it either” he said with a smile. I just smiled back and turned around to watch the people in the Crow Club.
After a while, I turned around again and asked if there was a way I could stay overnight, and the bartender told me that The Crow Club was open all night but there was no place to sleep.
After a bit, I got really tired and I fell asleep on the counter.
I dreamed of my past where everything was still going fine until the dream made a complete turn, everything became dark and there was fire everywhere. I couldn't see anything and before I knew it the void swallowed me whole.
Suddenly I felt someone shaking me awake. After I opened my eyes I saw a girl in front of me who was around my age. I flinched back as I didn’t know her. Normally I was a very touchy person, but I didn’t know that person and Ketterdam or Specifically a gambling house was not the best place to “Cuddle” with strangers.
“Sorry, at first I didn’t want to wake you up, but you looked like you had a bad dream,” the girl said.
“Well with that assumption you were certainly right”, I answered. “I am Nina Zenik, and you?” she asked. “I am Y/N”. “You are not from around here, are you? Because if you were then you would know that sleeping somewhere where everyone is able to steal your stuff isn’t a great idea” she lectured me. “You are pretty good at guessing huh?” I laughed a bit, “I heard enough about Ketterdam to know that but I have nowhere to sleep and I couldn’t fight my tiredness that long”. “Well do you have no place to sleep or just no money?” Nina asked. “Well kind of both but I can solve one with the other problem, right?” I asked. Suddenly I saw an idea spark up in her eyes, “I need to talk to someone really quick; I’ll be right back!”. And there she went hushing upstairs bumping into a few people here and there.
After some time Nina came back with a paper in her hand. As she laid it in front of me I saw that it was a contract for a job as a Bartender. I looked up at her to see a bright smile on her face “You can work here! As a Bartender. We need more because the Club is getting fuller so that would be a great opportunity for you and our Boss!”.
As I read through the contract it seemed quite ordinary until I read the lines “You are not allowed to give any information you receive to Costumers unless you have been specifically told to do so”. Why would they need something like that in their Bartender Contract? When I asked Nina about it she answered “Well because we can't let other gangs get the information we receive so you are only allowed to tell our Boss these pieces of information or his closest Crows so we can be the first to take action” She explained.
“So, they are a gang…” I thought to myself. I signed the papers nonetheless and gave them back. “Great!” Nina exclaimed, “For the first few nights you can have a room here… and if you prove yourself to be more of more use than right now… maybe you can stay for longer” She winked at me.
Nina brought me to my room and gave me everything that I needed for the night. “Your shift begins tomorrow, and don’t worry I’ve already got breakfast planned for you” she said with a grin, “good night!”. The door fell shut. Well at least I’ve got a job and somewhere to stay for now.
When I finally got into bed and fell asleep, the same dream came to me, first happy and then everything turned dark. I was scared. There was no one to stop it and I saw my parents die.
I woke up with a scream. While I tried to calm down, I heard a knock on my door.
Who could it be at this time?