Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

69 | Like Ashes

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"YOUR GUARDIAN WILL BE here any minute. You should rest while you wait," the doctor tells Max before heading out of Max's room in the clinic.

     Max takes a deep breath and comfortably lies in bed. Krist and the others wanted to stay with him since he literally just returned and then this happened, but Max insisted that they head to class since he wasn't badly injured anyway. He just assured them that they'll see each other again tomorrow.

     Though Max has been trying to put up a strong front, what happened earlier terrified him. He couldn't tell his protectors about what Cj did not because he didn't want them to suddenly barge in Cigarettes' base and make trouble. He couldn't tell them about it because he was afraid of the outcome. He was afraid of what Cj was going to do if BND and Jokers do start a fight with him. Max has to think of an effective plan first before doing something rash.

    "Play with fire and I'll show you ashes," Max mumbles to himself, repeating the exact words that Cj told him before he left earlier. 

     He remembers the menacing expression that the count had when he was looking down on him. It was a face that Max would never be able to forget. For some reason, Viktor had the same expression too, but Max never found it terrifying, it actually almost felt familiar. Cj's was different. It was an expression of a man who fears nothing.

     With Viktor, he knows he's afraid of something. Viktor acts the way he does because he's afraid of something, just like Max; both of them have fears. Cj, on the other hand, fears nothing. It's like he acts recklessly because there's nothing else for him to lose.

    "I can't fix something that's trying to break itself," Max says before deciding to let the thought go so he can finally rest. As he was about to close his eyes, the door suddenly opens. He was expecting it to be Étienne, but to his surprise, the visitor was Gavriil.

     Max immediately sits up from his bed and asks, "What are you doing here?"

     "I'm an Elite. We're not required to attend classes," Gavriil casually answers as he approaches him.

    Max unconsciously moves away as Gavriil stood at the side of his bed. Unlike the time when they met each other at the Mask and at Viktor's apartment, Gavriil was once again wearing J.S High's famous white uniform. With his golden armband, Elite's brooch, and peak cap neatly in place, Gavriil looked like a proper vice president.

    "Leave," Max commands.

    "I'm not your butler, so get down from your high horse young master," Gavriil answers back, and Max crosses his arms and angrily lies back down like a stubborn kid, turning his body away from Gavriil so he wouldn't be able to see him.

     When he saw how Max acted, Gavriil takes a deep breath and removes his peak cap. "There is nothing for you to worry about. I'm not here to say something that will confuse you. I actually came here as the vice president and nothing more," Gavriil says, but Max still didn't turn around.

     "I'm here to inform you that we have identified the four white uniforms who mimicked the Ashes."

     As soon as Max heard about what the vice said, he immediately turns back around and asks, "Where are they?"

     Gavriil pulls out his phone in his pocket and shows him a picture of four students standing in line like it was their mugshot.

     "Those students were Smith, Vasquez, Hudson, and Williams respectively. We immediately caught them and they're already suspended. They said they followed Arthur around since he was a gaffer, and they were only forced to follow him when Arthur asked them to help him with his plans," Gavriil explains, and Max didn't even react since he somehow expected something like that to be the reason.