When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing

It had been three hours when the cold was getting into his body. These past hours Kaz had been hiding, kneeling and carefully examining the lit windows, noting everytime someone past or glanced outside. The guards took exactly 23 minutes and a few more seconds to complete their round. Every hour the roster changed. Around nine the guards had left the garden, probably not expecting any visitors, but Kaz was careful enough to avoid the place, just to be sure. At one point a guard had taken longer than usual to complete his round and had glanced outside, as if he was looking for something. Maybe he got caught up with something, maybe he had been taking a piss, but Kaz didn't trust it and had moved to another hiding spot. Now, almost three and a half hours later, the guards seemed to thin out, with only one walking by every twenty minutes. It would only make his job more easy. And what a job this was. A nutjob.

While moving towards the side of the fancy lakehouse, slow and low, Kaz reminded himself that he didn't have to do this, that he had become a madman. But it was so close, he could almost taste the tang of gold on his tongue, he heard it calling out for him. If he walked away now, he would most certainly go mad.
Kaz eyed the pipe, it looked strong enough to hold him, yet he tested it a few times before starting the climb. He had spotted the open window from miles away, it had felt like an invitation, a reason for him to continue this mad hunt. But he was so close now, he couldn't give up now. The climb was hard, his leg protesting with every move he made, but after a short while he made it to the top. Footsteps sounded close, came closer and died out again. The guard had passed. Twenty minutes. Clock's ticking.

With ease he opened the window, crawled through it and almost silently came down on the floor. He eyed both corridors, marked them safe and started moving. Kruge was of no help here, so the bird sat outside, waiting for his master to return, Kaz his cane by the creature's side.
At last Kaz had ended up at the door he was supposed to be at, or so he was told. He still wasn't sure how the person got all of this information, but it was an oppertunity he couldn't resist. Softly he tried to open the door. Locked, of course. With two easy movements the door clicked open, Kaz hiding the lockpick in his coat. ''Too easy.'' He mumbled very softly to himself, entering the room and closing the door, locking it to not cast any suspicion if someone was to come by. His eyes saw the windows, easy escapes. The fall would be hard, but Kaz would survive. Now came the toughest part. The room was large enough to hide any object and Kaz had to be the unlucky guy to need a very small object. Now, where would someone keep it? If the owner of this house was a woman it could easily be on display, but at the look of the clean state of his surroundings, this was not the case. Kaz cracked his nuckles and got to work.

Ten minutes later and he had examined about every inch and nook of this goddamn room. It was getting on his nerves. Just as he was about to give up and return, to make sure he wouldn't get caught, his eyes fell on a painting. A painting of the queen even. Who even would hang that in his room? Was this guy some crazy weird stalker of her? But then a bell rang in the back of his head. A faint grin lay on his mouth while he walked over and very, very carefully, got the painting off the wall. There. Of course this person hid a safe behind a goddamn painting. What a move. Kaz couldn't help but actually smile, while he got back to work again, trying to get the combination of the safe. He was more of a lockpick kind of person, but he always liked the challenges these metal boxes gave him. It took a moment but then he heard the sound.

Click.

The second best sound there was in the world. Besides the clinking of coins falling on an even larger pile of coins. Kaz smiled while he gave the lock a spin and the small, metal door opened. Now this was what he wanted to see. Kaz couldn't help but widen his smile, which now had changed into a grin. This sure was a jackpot. No wonder why the room had seemed so clean, mister ritchguy just locked everything up. But no lock was safe from his hands. His eys scanned the safe, though the sight of this much gold was tempting and he would gladly take some of it, this was not why he was here. The question was though, why would a ring this simple be locked up like this? To many this was just a small piece of jewlery, right? What worth did this man think it carried? Kaz had been a simple and poor thief when he had bought the ring itself, it carried no diamond, no other precious stone or expensive detail. It was a plain, silver band, meant to have only a meaning between two people. A meaning now far gone.

The ring looked smaller than he remembered, plainer even. Maybe because it was stashed between all those other beautiful things that it lost its prettiness, but as soon as Kaz had it in his hand, it felt familiar. It felt like home. Still, he was an idiot for doing this. This shouldn't even matter to him, yet it did. Kaz wanted to close the safe and be done with it, knowing that the guard rounds probably soon would pass again. But he couldn't help to just grab a few gold coins. Just a little reminder of what had happened here. A faint smile when he finally decided to close the small metal door.
He was about half way of putting back the painting when he heard the door. Well fuck. In one quick move the painting was hanging, albeit a bit sideways and Kaz was halfway to the side of the room, eyeing the closet. He slid the ring in his pocket of his coat and came to the realisation that hiding had absolutely no use. So instead Kaz turned towards the door, a smile plastered on his face.

''Didn't know the room was booked for tonight.''

Oh my, what a fancy person stood in front of him. Thism an sure had to be rich to afford this kind of estate but now by the looks of him, Kaz could agree that he probably had the money to own even more than this magnificent house. How much would be too much? Kaz flashed his teeth while he smiled, stepping towards the man, making sure his limp was as invisible as he could make it. Somewhere, he looked familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was. He hadn't robbed the man before, not in the slightest. He would remember someone looking this rich and fancy. Hell, he would probably have followed him home to see what treasures he hoarded. What a dream.

With the ring safely in his pocket, all he had to do was leave this place. Which had just become a tad harder now that this man was in the way. And the way he had closed the door, he probably wasn't the only one Kaz would face tonight. ''My apologies. I guess we have to share the bed for tonight then.'' Kaz added, the smirk staying on his face, not letting his gaze go from the man in front of him. ''But, I can understand that might not be something we both want, so I can just take my leave.'' For a moment he let his eyes slid to the door behind the other man. It was closed and though Kaz might be a master in opening anything that had a lock, with this kind of pressure he probably wouldn't make it. But he was up for a challenge.

The longer he stayed here, the harder it would become to get away with this. Even though it had little to no weight, Kaz could feel the ring in his pocket ,as if it was calling out and tried to scream that it was in there, letting the man standing right there it wasn't in the place it was supposed to be. Kaz just hoped he was imagining it, dismissing the thoughts as something he couldn't use right now. No. He needed to think. Something that became a little harder with every second ticking away.

Kaz knew he picked the wrong time and place to be here as soon as the eyes of the man changed. That wasn't natural. It wasn't supposed to happen. But it did. Though his face stayed stoic, not revealing any emotion, Kaz could feel the hairs in the back of his neck rising. He fucked up big time. The words spoken at him only added more fuel to his rising anxious feelings. Control. He needed control. This was not the moment to black out and summon some ancient being that would rip this entire place apart. Or was it? It sure was a nice way to escape this place. A place that seemed so rich and wonderful moments ago, but now had turned into something that looked like an icecold prison. Kaz could swear the room temperature had dropped with at least four degrees. Yet, the young thief stayed where he stood, his eyes burning into the ones of the man as if his life depended on it.

''By all means, go ahead.'' Kaz was surprised to hear his voice to stable, so bored. Was he making this all up? Was what he was seeing just a figment of his imagination? He folded his arms in the pockets of his coat, only feeling the small, cold metal of the lockpick. The only damage he could do with that was stab an eye out. But it wouldn't mean his escape. It would probably make things worse. ''Though I believe aquintances know each other a little more than we do now.'' Kaz continued, setting one step back to create a little more distance. ''So forgive me if I have forgotten, but I didn't quite catch your name.'' Whatever he was doing, he hoped it would get him out of here. Fast.

Kaz thought back to the words the man had just pronounced. You are not going to leave this place. A few minutes ago Kaz had smiled, simply thinking that he would get his way out of here and that he probably would be back at at the moment, in the morning. But the more the clock ticked away, the more unsure he became of that thought. The threat started to sink in and while he tried to pay no attention to the rising anxiety in his chest, he could only think that he probably pissed of the wrong person. But Kaz wasn't Kaz if he always managed to get away with things. So this might be a challenge, but he assured himself he would walk out unscathed and that there was no problem.

Unless... there was a problem. In the years he had lived on the streets he had managed to hide the emotions on his face, but as soon as the name fell there was a small window of time where you could see Kaz his realization. Unless there was another rich person named like this, the chance was high he was looking the high king of Fallen Skies right in his maddening, dark eyes. And that wasn't according to plan. Though his body stiffened, his face remained the same, unimpressed look. But inside, he was really starting to worry. And that worry only grew bigger when he heard the rumble on the other side of the door. This house was probably swarming with guards. Well he managed to fuck everything up perfectly. The windows were still an option. It would probably break his leg, but everything was better than rotting in a dungeon for the rest of his life.

The young thief started his play, bowing but not deep enough to lose eye contact. Damn, those eyes were really menacing. ''I had no idea I was here with the king himself. My sincerest apologies.'' The last words were way too toned, almost ridiculing them. Which was exactly what he was trying. ''Unfortunately, I have noticed my time is running short. So if you don't mind..'' Kaz got up from his position and in one quick movement pulled his hand out of his pocket, balled it to a fist and aimed high and hard.

To be fair, the panic probably got to him and made him choose this decision. Something not thought through too well and poorly executed would probably be his grave. Though, burying him here wasn't that bad. He would be surrounded by luxury and wealth and wasn't that something he had always dreamed of? But the question was, would it be enough in the afterlife, or would he forever be restless and greedy for more? Best not to think about that, he was about to make a stupid move after all. A move that probably meant his impending doom.

He wasn't far from the guess. His fist was easily avoided and before he knew, he was again stuck in a corner, although not literally this time, with no way out. The words of the man made Kaz laugh, albeit a bit nervously. ''Sadly, I am known for that...'' He managed to say before the fist hit his gut and the breath was pulled from his lungs. He gasped, beding forward, trying to grasp the last bits of air escaping his lungs, desperate to get it back in. He should've seen that coming. Such a disappointment again. Just as he was about to turn around, another fist landed, half hitting his cheek and nose. He felt the blood creeping over his face but paid no attention to it. He turned around as far as he could, trying to wriggle his wrist free. ''I just manage to correct my mistakes most of the time''. he continued a bit out of breath, lunging forward to clash his head with the one of the king. Here he was, fighting the king of all Fallen Skies and for what? A stupid ring he felt nostalgic over. It was saddening, really, but now there was no way back. Kaz decided to give the other a taste of his own medicine, aiming for the others stomach, hoping the clash would loosen the grip on his wrist. If only he had his cane. Than it had only be a matter of minutes before the skull of the king was in shambles.

This entire thing was a chain of mistakes. No matter how dripped with gold his words were, they didn't seem to affect the king. Maybe because he knew how to deal with people like Kaz, with thieves and murderers and other people that had no place in his kingdom. But those people were like vermin, you could never really eradicate them. But now, now it felt like Kaz was out of luck and every breath seemed to make the situation worse.

His attacks didn't get the result he wanted. Instead, it just got worse. The grip on his wrist tightened, his skin almost getting punctured. He bit his lip to avoid screaming, but it was hard. Touch. only nails pinching into his skin was enough to bring back the memories, to see his brothers dead and swollen face. It got him out of his concentration and into a place he didn't want to be. Ever. Everything seemed to turn black for a moment, sound muffeling and pain going straight into his head. Before Kaz had fully realised what was going on, and he was back into the normal world again, his back slammed into something hard, pushing out the air he just deeply had cherished. The hands around his neck only made it worse. Not only because they choked the life out of him, that seemed to be the least of his concerns, but the feeling alone made him crawl into his skin. His gloved hands gripped the hands of the other tightly, trying to pry them loose. Did he truly hear the seawater or was it just the blood rushing in his ears? All the memories washed over him, trying to drown him. Kaz panicked, the look was clearly written on his face. His feet tried to find ground but with every second his struggles seemed to grow weaker. He opened his mouth to say something, but his panic only got worse when the darknes started to fade in and the face of the king in front of him started to morph into that of the pale, swollen face of his brother. ''Geo-'' He tried to say but it was then that darkness took over and Kaz was dragged into unconsiousness.

This darkness was new to him. It felt colder than usual, different from when he was asleep. He had been knocked out a few times, but never like this. No one had almost succeeded, until now, in trying to kill him. Even when he faded into unconciousness, he could swear he saw his brother standing before him and not the king of Valyria. In either way, things were bad. Really bad.
In this darkness, all Kaz could do was wait, maybe ponder a bit about the descisions he had made and where it all had gone wrong. By getting the ring. That was his first mistake. Just even thinking of getting it had been a wrong turn. If he could, he wanted to smash his head against a wall, but he figured that the other man probably would be just as eager as him to do that.

It felt like he wasn't out too long. But when he awoke, the first thing he noticed was a headache that hurt so bad he didn't mind getting knocked out again. Kaz groaned, wanted to grab his head, but noticed how his hands were tied to his back. The next thing he noticed was that he wasn't laying on some lush carpet or the cold, wooden floors of the mansion. No. This was gravel. In one quick move Kaz sat up straight, immediately noticing that they were no longer in the house, but in the garden. His eyes tried to adjust to the light, making everything blurry. ''Showoff.'' He mumbled not directly to anyone, he couldn't even make out if there was anyone closeby. The ropes around his hands were tight, almost tearing into his skin and the thief noticed how his throat was sore and hurt. If breathing was getting an issue, he might had to reconsider his chances of surviving another attack.

Kaz let his head rest on his chest, closing his eyes for a bit in hopes that less light would mean less headache. His hands tried to play with the ropes, find its weakspots and trying to loose them. But being tied up was a complete different thing than opening locks, even though they both meant opening or freeing something. Kaz cursed under his breath before stopping altogether. Someone was probably watching him and all this was stupid anyway. He just needed to come to the terms that he wasn't getting out of here and that for once someone had bested him. Something he didn't really want to admit.