Crystallite | ✔

iii.

chapter three.

ares blackburn
perspective

"EMERGENCY MEETING? WHO DISAPPEARED?" I hiss, pulling my blazer over my shirt, glancing at Rue leaning on the door.

"You wouldn't guess," he murmurs.

"Tell me it's Yara," I plead, "I want her gone for good. Life will be so much easier without that crazy bitch," I groan, slipping my gun into my pocket before we walk out of the office.

"It's Denver Ivy," he laughs at my words, "Yara was the last one to see him before he just vanished."

"She should have been the one to vanish," I grumble under my breath as we walk out of the South Wing, "No one would care anyway."

Rue narrows his eyes at me, "The whole school would care, Ares," he chuckles, "She carries the pride and power of this academy on her shoulders. She is the grand duke's only daughter."

"I don't give a fuck about her," I hiss, "She's a rich spoilt brat and I fucking hate her with all my blood," I scoff, entering the Crystal Wing.

"Watch your words, Blackburn. You're talking shit about the most powerful lady in the empire. You know that you could be executed for that, right?"

I roll my eyes, turning my head around to see Asahi standing behind me, a look of disgust on his face, like every time he saw me.

I scoff, "I'm not scared of death nor the ducal family," I glance at the stain of blood on his sleeve, "What? Did Yara finally shoot you?"

He scoffs, "She doesn't hate me like you. This is the blood from Yara's piano. Whoever is kidnapping the heads, left blood on her piano with a bloody note, warning her. Yara is at risk."

"Good that she is," I sardonically smile, kicking the door open and entering the conference room. I glance at Asahi, watching him roll the sleeve, hiding the stain of blood from the rest of the heads who looked scared to death, knowing they will be next.

Now, it was just four of us.

I take a seat next to Jun, watching him tap his foot against the floor, an anxious look on his face. Ember was on his other side, her usual confident look had vanished into thin air.

Asahi and Rue take a seat opposite me and I glance around, noticing that Yara wasn't in the room.

I chuckle, "Did they take Yara as well?"

"I'm not a thing you can just take, Blackburn."

I groan at the sound of her velvety voice. I turn my head around, watching her stand behind me, her dark eyes narrowed at me.

"So not glad to see you, Azaran." I hiss, glaring at her as she takes a seat next to me. Asahi walks towards her and murmurs a few words in her ear. She sighs, nodding at him before he walks out of the room.

Yara scoffs, turning around to glance at me, "Are you ever?" She rolls her eyes, "Denver might have been useless but he was still better than you. You should have been disappeared first, fucker."

"Sadly, I'm not that weak. Not everyone can touch me," I click my tongue at her.

"Not everyone wants to touch you," she scoffs, rolling her eyes at me.

"Bitch," I hiss at her.

"Bastard, go die," she hisses back.

"Gladly," I sardonically chuckle, "Better than seeing your ugly face every day."

"Oh, don't be bitter that you didn't get my looks, Blackburn," she feigns a smile.

"Jealousy doesn't look good on you," she eyes up from top to bottom, "Not like anything does."

"Fucking bitch," I hiss, jolting my face towards hers, our lips are an inch away from touching as we glare into each other's eyes, the urge to wrap my hands around her neck running through my veins.

She continues glaring at me. None of us daring to break the eye contact, until we hear a new presence join us.

"Can you two ever stop fighting? The heads are going missing, possibly murdered. And all you care about is fighting? Stop." The Headmistress scoffs, taking a seat at the front.

"And what are you doing exactly?" Yara scoffs, narrowing her eyes at the woman, "All you do is host these fucking meetings. You don't give a damn about us so why should I listen to you?"

"Watch your words, Miss Azaran. You have no right to talk to me like that," the woman glares at the girl next to me.

"You should watch yourself out," Yara chuckles, "The person behind these disappearances might not target you but I sure fucking will," she rolls her eyes, standing up, walking towards the door.

"Miss Azaran!" The Headmistress shouts in annoyance.

She glances back at the woman, "Stop screaming at me, you can do that in bed when you fuck your student. You disgust me," she scrunches her face at her before walking out.

The room falls in awkward silence and all of us stare at the woman with a weird look, thinking about the things that Yara said.

"You got anything to say besides counting how many heads are standing?" I arch my eyebrow at the woman, watching her scowl at me.

"Listen carefully," she starts, "I need all of you to protect your crystals. They can't be destroyed," she sighs and I glance at the crystal on my pocket.

I knew these crystals were precious. They were worth a hefty amount and were passed down for generations. But I still didn't know what was so important about them.

"So these crystals are worth more than our lives?" Jun chuckles, looking at the blue crystal on his chest pocket but the woman stays silent.

"I am not going to sacrifice my life to protect this crystal," Ember states, "I don't understand why all of us are losing our lives to protect these."

"What are you hiding from us?" Ember seethes, glaring at the woman, "Tell me everything before I break this crystal," she hisses, ripping the crystal off her chain and placing it on the table.

The headmistress gasps, widening her eyes at the crystal in Ember's hands, "No, please don't break that crystal!"

"Tell us what's so important about them," Jun demands.

"The more time you waste, the more the crystals are at risk of breaking," I murmur, grazing my fingers over my crystal while watching the woman sweat anxiously.

She looks at us for a few seconds before nodding her head, "Fine. I'll tell you why they're after those crystals."

I roll my eyes at her, "Hurry up then. We don't have all day to listen. All of us will vanish by the time you start talking."

She sighs, "Those crystals aren't normal. According to the legend, one of them po—."

She stops talking when we hear guns go off, followed by a scream and all of us stand up in shock.

"That was Yara's scream," Ember gasps, putting her hand over her mouth.

Yara getting warned through that bloody note wasn't just a pretty threat to scare her. It was fucking real and she was at risk of getting shot.

Or maybe she already got shot.

—☽—