~Author's Note~

UPDATE, AUGUST 2011: This chapter has been rewritten for you, the readers', pleasure! More info about this will be found in chapter 11 when it's posted! Thank you! 8D

I'm sorry, grumpy-Iggy and valley girl-talking Feliks, but psycho-Ivan is the funniest person to write ever - period. :D No, but seriously, I started to write on the last scene in this chapter when I was writing on chapter...two, I think? Yeah, that's how excited I was about writing it XD To be honest I'm not that confident about this chapter at all, but I kinda like the last scene actually...Yeah, you heard me correctly - the otherwise so timid and doubting author of this story is actually saying that she likes something that she has written! What an unexpected change of pace, isn't it? :D (I bet people are going to be like "ZOMG U TOTALLY WENT THEEEERE", but you know what? Yeah, I did, and I liked it! So sue me! 8D Or wait, please don't...OTL)

Also, I want to give a very special thanks to my friend (you know who you are :Y) who gave me a breath-taking rant when I was struggling in the crappy-writing-hole again...I really needed that, and it helped me more than you probably can believe~! Gracias, amigo...

...BUT WHATEVER; LET'S GO NOW! PEACE BANANA! CHARACTER SCRIBBLES IN THE END! WOOOHOOOO! -shot-

Chapter 8:

With a deep sigh Ivan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He moved around the glass that he was holding in his left hand in small circles and felt how the liquid inside of it swirled around, creating a small whirlpool in the glass. Everything in the room was quiet, aside from the water pouring down outside of the large window, and this helped the big-boned man to think about his new plan. There were no doubt about that anything could go wrong at this point; everything was proceeding exactly as planned so far, and no one would be able to stop him before it was too late. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about it. This was the beginning to the end, he just knew it. It wouldn't take long before he would be able to finally break down those pathetic people, make them pay for-!

Knock knock.

When he heard the knocking he instantly opened his eyes and put down the glass on his desk.

"Yes?" he asked simply and folded his hands. The door opened slowly and soon revealed a pair of blue eyes that stared straight into his purple ones. He immediately recognized those eyes. "Ah, Natalia! Please come in, da!" he said and beckoned her to walk up to him. The woman nodded and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. With quick steps she walked over to the desk and stopped when she was in front of Ivan.

"Big brother, I've returned from the mission you assigned tome." she said and curtseyed politely.

"I can see that." Ivan responded with a smile. "So, did you destroy that annoying village's food supplies as planned?"

"Yes, we managed to tear down a lot of their storages." She paused for a moment. "Unfortunately we lost a lot of ants though…the villagers fought back more violently than we had thought."

"I expected that much." Ivan said in a chilly tone that didn't match up to the kind smile he still wore on his dry lips. "You've done well, Natalia." A small blush crept up on the woman's cheeks and her eyes beamed with satisfaction.

"Thank you, big brother…" She put down her hands on the desk and leaned closer to the taller man. "So, big brother…" she started and gave Ivan a leer that made him shiver all the way down to his toes, even though he did his best not to show it. "...Let's get married!" she whispered while jumping up on the desk and swiftly moved closer, trying to catch Ivan's lips. However, Ivan quickly ducked and ended up on the floor with a thud.

"I-I've already told you that I can't get married right now, I'm too busy!" he said a bit panicky and continued when he saw his sister's narrowed eyes: "P-please Natalia, can you leave now? I've got work to do!" Natalia eyed her brother suspiciously with her thin eyebrows furrowed, but after a few seconds of awkward silence she slid off the desk and walked towards the door. But just when Ivan was about to let out a sigh of relief she turned her head around.

"I've got something else to report as well, big brother." She turned around completely and walked back to the desk. "I fought against a man today, a young and inexperienced one that I've never seen before. I heard that he managed to kill two ants as well as scare away at least three of them that escaped into the woods."

"Well, maybe he's from one of the other villages then." Ivan said, unmoved, while getting up on his feet again and brushed off his clothes. "Besides, he doesn't seem to be that intimidating to me if he can't kill more than two ants, da." he continued as he picked up his glass once more and drank a gulp.

"That's not the problem. I don't think he's a Vegrandis; I couldn't feel any magic powers within him while fighting him, and he was using a gun with ordinary bullets. I…" She hesitated, not sure if her suspicion would make any sense. "I think he might be a…small human or something like that." When the unexpected sound of someone crushing glass echoed through the room Natalia blinked in surprise and stared at Ivan's right hand. The alcohol that had been in the glass just a few seconds ago were now running down the tall man's arm, and when he opened his hand the remains of the glass fell to the stone floor with a numerous amounts of "clink"-sounds. The man himself looked at the girl with such dark eyes that they would probably succeed in making the bravest man in the world crawl on the floor in fear.

"…WHAT did you say?"

OxOxO

"Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight; you're actually a human that got minimized by the Braginski-bastard?" When Alfred nodded the albino laughed again. "HAHA! That sounds crazy, but I guess that explains why you're using a gun with lame bullets like that." He nodded towards the weapon in Alfred's hand with an amused grin on his face.

"Well, it's still a cool gun though, don't ya think?" Alfred said proudly and patted the gun with his free hand. It had gotten a small scratch on the pipe because of the crazy woman's knife, but it was hardly noticeable. Actually it looked kind of cool to have a scar like that; he could brag about the intensive battle with the gun as a proof!

"Sure, but it's a quite ineffective weapon if you don't know how to use it properly." the albino responded teasingly while adjusting his hat. "It works fine if you're just facing easy enemies like those retarded ants, but if you want to defeat someone like psycho-girlie you need more training." He observed Alfred from top to toe with a sceptical look decorating his face. "Oh, wait, scratch that; you need a LOT more training."

"Well, it wouldn't be any fun if the hero was superior from the start!" Alfred laughed and tried to stuff his gun back into the pocket on his pyjamas. "Don't worry, dude; I shall become stronger, just you wait!" The albino simply answered with a cocky "oh-sure-and-I'm-the-king-of-Mars" smile.

"Gilbert, Gilbert!" a voice suddenly called out, drawing the two men's attention. A lightly-tanned man with dark-brown, and slightly curly, hair came running towards them while waving excitedly, dressed in a red coat with a huge yellow ribbon under the collar. "Look who I found!" the man shouted and pointed with the long axe he held in one of his hands at the blond man he was dragging along with him. Alfred immediately recognized the person; he didn't know anyone else that would wear such a flashy costume on a regular basis.

"Ah, Gilbert! Long time no see!" Francis greeted and gave the albino a friendly pat on his back. "Seems like you didn't get eaten by the bugs this time either."

"Nice to see you too once in a while, stupid!" Gilbert grinned and slammed his hand onto Francis's back, a lot harder than the light pat he had received seconds ago. "Having any fun over there in the stump?"

"Well, I certainly don't get as much as respect and love as I truly deserve and desire!" Francis said with a dramatic tone of voice and pretended to wipe away a tear from the corner of his eye. "But I prefer not having to be on my guard all the time because of Predateli like you two have to."

"It's really not that bad, you know." the tanned man said and added with a big smile: "I think those ants are kind of cute actually!"

"Yes, how cute with giant insects that want to kill you." Gilbert said sarcastically and snorted. "Seriously dude, I don't get what's going on inside of your head sometimes! It's like it's filled with tomatoes instead of brain cells…"

"I like tomatoes~!"

"WE KNOW." Francis and Gilbert said at the same time while rolling their eyes. Alfred, who has just been staring at the tanned man's axe until now, sighed deeply and scratched the back of his head. He felt left out of the conversation, to say the least, and that was no good; he remembered that the heroes in the stories ALWAYS were in the centre of attention. So, he decided to go with the first plan that he came up with, the one thing that would always work; to be loud.

"I like them on hamburgers!" he shouted, and his plan worked; the three friends turned their heads, and attention, towards him instead.

"Oh my, how rude of us; we forgot to introduce you to our tomato-loving friend!" Francis laughed and threw his arm over Alfred's shoulder while nodding towards the tanned man. "This is Antonio, my friend that I was talking about before whenPierrecame to us! And Tonio…" He nodded towards Alfred instead. "This is our new companion, Alfred!"

"Hola, amigo! My full name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, but you can call me "Tonio" if you want to!" the tanned man greeted with a happy grin while waving eagerly with his free hand.

"Hey, Tonio, guess what? This guy is actually a human!" Gilbert said and wiggled his pale eyebrows at the tanned man.

"Eh, really?" Antonio asked curiously, still wearing the big smile on his lips, not even showing any traces of being surprised by the news. "I've never seen a human before, but I always thought they were bigger than us!" he laughed.

"I used to be, but that Ivan-dude shrunk me with magic!" Alfred folded his arms and pouted angrily when he thought about the night when Ivan had visited his house and tricked him. "He even tried to kill me for no reason!"

"Sounds like something that the Braginski-bastard would do. He's a real psycho!" Gilbert agreed before he added; "And so is his younger sister. I wonder if their whole family is full of crazy people or something!"

"You mean Natalia Arlovskaya?" Francis asked while playing with locks of hair with his index-finger.

"Yep, that's the one. I had to fight her today since human-boy here couldn't defeat her…It seems like I said something that touched a REALLY sensitive nerve though, because now she's out to kill me for real." The albino shrugged before placing his hands on his hips, and a new cocky smile quickly crept up on his face. "Not that I care though; I'm awesome after all!" And once again he laughed at full volume, forcing Francis to cover his ears while Antonio simply continued to grin. Alfred was about to imitate Francis and cover his ears as well when he remembered something.

"Oh yeah, dude! Can you do it too? You know, those cool blue wave-thingies that that woman did while fighting you? I really wanna see them again if possible!" he asked excitedly. However, when Gilbert heard this he immediately stopped laughing and stiffened, looking like if someone had just told him that he had been sentenced to death.

"…O-of course I-I c-c-can…" he started, but when his voice started to crack he tightly shut his mouth, and his eyes looked a lot more glassy than before. "C-crap, seems like I got s-something in my eye. How u-unawesome, isn't it? Hahaha…" He swiftly turned around and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, but even the oblivious Alfred noticed that his entire body had started to tremble. Gilbert took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it didn't take long before his body started to shake again, and suddenly it was almost like something cracked inside of the albino; he sunk down on the ground formed like a ball and started to sob loudly.

"…Do you really have to do that if you want to make those epic wave-thingies?" Alfred asked, feeling a bit confused; he clearly remembered that the woman from before hadn't been sitting like a ball before attacking after all. Francis and Antonio exchanged knowing looks.

"Gilbert is a very good fighter, but his magic-level has been extremely low ever since he was a baby. He can hardly use any magic attacks at all, and when he does he loses a lot of energy." Antonio explained and shook his head slightly while looking at the crying albino sitting on the ground.

"And he always does that whenever people remind him about that he can't use "awesome" attacks like the rest of us." Francis sighed. "Kind of sad, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that really sucks!" Alfred agreed and turned back towards the "ball". "But hey, you were still kinda epic back then! I mean, it was really cool when you cut through her attacks like if they were made out of paper!" With a hardly noticeable twitch Gilbert stopped sobbing, and all of a sudden he rose up from the ground with a huge smile on his face, looking like nothing had happened; his still swollen eyes betrayed him though.

"Of course I'm epic! I'm the definition of "awesome" after all, kesesese~!" And once again Francis and Alfred had to cover their ears because of Gilbert's ear-piercing laugh.

"And there we go again…" Francis mumbled and glanced at Antonio. "I'm surprised you can actually listen to this without going deaf!" he shouted, and the green-eyed man shrugged.

"I'm used to it." He poked on Gilbert with the bottom of his axe, and when the albino finally silenced he continued: "Well guys, I'm sorry to say that I have to leave you now. I need to go and check up on Lovino; he hid somewhere right before the ants started to retreat, and I haven't seen him since then…I'm starting to get a little worried."

"Mr. Pervert is right here so you don't have anything to worry about really." Gilbert rolled his eyes as he pointed at the blond man next to him with his thumb. Francis simply answered with a creepy wink. "But whatever, you do what you have to do."

"Gracias, amigos! Let's meet up later, 'kay?"

"Deal! Let's go and find something else to do then, boys!" Gilbert shouted and tried to walk away, but Francis stopped him by grabbing his cloak, almost choking the albino in the progress.

"Wait, Gilbert." Francis said, ignoring Gilbert's death-glare, and turned back towards Antonio, who had already started to walk away from them in the opposite direction where he and Francis had showed up from earlier. "Hey, Tonio! Badass Trio drinking-game tonight?" When the brown-haired man heard this he instantly stopped short, turned around and answered with a beaming smile:

"You bet!"

OxOxO

"So, this village specialises in farming! Since we live in the open it's the perfect place to cultivate on, and that's why we're in charge of making all of the wheat and vegetables to the other villages!" Gilbert explained while gesticulating with his arms all over the place. After parting with the cheerful Antonio the two men had decided on showing Alfred around the village, and in the middle of the sightseeing Gilbert had decided on becoming the tour-guide for some unknown reason. The albino kept babbling with Francis adding things occasionally, but Alfred had lost interest in the tour after just a few minutes, probably because he couldn't help but think of something else. Or well, someone else.

Arthur.

Somehow he couldn't help but to feel…well, a little guilty because of what had happened earlier. Sure, Arthur had no reason what so ever to throw an unexpected tantrum like that, but he didn't seem like a person that would get so freaking mad that he would slap people unless he had a good reason to. Besides, IF Arthur wanted to be like a hero as well there was no reason for them to fight; they could be helping each other instead!

"I should find him as soon as possible and talk to him about it…" he thought and nodded to himself. Yeah, that was probably the best thing to do.

"…Hey, human-boy? Are you listening to me?" Gilbert asked, looking a little offended when he noticed that Alfred didn't seem to pay attention to him. "Oh, and you might want to watch out because Mr. Pervert is trying to get into your pants over there." he continued and pointed at Alfred's hips. The blond turned his head in the direction where Gilbert was pointing and saw how Francis, who was staring back at him with a surprised yet somewhat guilty smile, was just a few centimetres away from grabbing him by his hips. Alfred simply gaped at the blond man without saying a word, not really sure of what was going on. That was, until he noticed that Francis's hand was very close to the pocket where he had his gun.

"Oh, you wanted to take a look at my gun? Why didn't you say so in the first place?" he said cheerfully, but before Francis even had a chance to answer Gilbert started to guffaw so much that he had to let his hands rest on his knees in order to not fall down on the ground.

"HAHAHAHAAAAA! Y-yeah, you bet that he wanted to take a look at your "gun"…but not in the way you think, HAHAAAAHAAAAA! Damn it, dude; you should seriously consider becoming a comedian!" Tears were now starting to spurt out from his eyes, and even though he still held his hands on his knees he had a hard time keeping his balance.

"...In what way did he mean then?" Alfred asked with his eyebrows raised, feeling confused about what Gilbert was talking about. Did Francis want to look at some weird part of the gun, like the backside of the trigger or something like that? "But why would someone found that funny in the first place?" he thought while staring at the albino in front of him who was wiping away a tear from his eye while chuckling to himself. But Gilbert didn't answer him; he had settled his red eyes on something else.

"Later, later!" he said without looking at Alfred and started to walk away with quick steps. After exchanging confused looks with each other Alfred and Francis followed him, and it didn't take long until they noticed where Gilbert was heading; on the road in front of them stood two persons, a man and a woman. The man stood straight-backed with a serious expression; he looked very noble, dressed in flashy navy-blue uniform with white details together with fuchsia-coloured pants and with a pair of glasses resting on his nose. He also had an interesting curl in his somewhat wavy brown hair, reminding Alfred about his own gravity-defying cowlick, and to make everything even more perfect he had a small black mole on his face. The woman on the other hand looked like the man's complete opposite: she was wearing some kind of female warrior-outfit, obviously dressed to fight, and in front of her right ear she wore a huge red flower. She was very beautiful with long flowing light-brown hair and with beaming and tough-looking green eyes, and in her right hand she held…a frying-pan? !

"Yo, Specs! How unfortunate that I had to see your ugly face again; I was kinda hoping that the ants had eaten you!" Gilbert shouted to them when he was just a few steps away from the two persons. "Buuuut I guess they didn't want to chew on a tasteless aristocrat like you, and I don't blame them for it! Kesesesese~!" The noble man seemed quite unmoved by the harsh words, but the same couldn't be said about the woman.

"Don't you talk to him like that, you-! You-!" she sputtered exasperatedly while shaking her fist at him. "YOU ASS!" And without any warning she threw the frying-pan at the albino, obviously aiming for his head. Fortunately for Gilbert he managed to dodge it, and instead of hitting him it flew straight into a house made out of stone behind him, leaving a deep mark in the wall.

"My, my, Lizzie, is your aiming off today or what?" he said and sniggled, but when he saw the furious expression on the woman's face he turned around and dashed down the street with his head still turned towards the group of people. "What's wrong, can't you take a joke? Ooooh, but maybe you've hanged out with that lame four-eyed aristocrat so much that your fighting-skills are deteriorating! Poor you, poor you!" he laughed and increased speed, fully aware of what was going to happen next.

"Oh, just you wait…!" The woman hissed, and after picking up her frying-pan she took up the chase after the albino with her "weapon" raised up in the air. The remaining people – Alfred, Francis and the noble man – merely watched as the woman and Gilbert rushed away, and soon enough they were out of their sight.

"What an idiot. He should know by now that talking to Elizabeta like that will only get him hurt in the end." The man with the glasses suddenly said, breaking the silence. He looked at Alfred, and after scanning him from top to toe with his eyes he said: "I'm quite sure that I've never met you before. How do you do, my name is Roderich Edelstein. It's nice to meet you, Mr…?"

"…Umm...Alfred. Alfred F. Jones." Alfred answered awkwardly and shook the hand that the man held out towards him.

"Mr. Jones." Roderich finished his sentence and released Alfred's hand almost immediately, almost like if it had been covered with acid. Instead, he turned his gaze towards Francis and nodded, which was probably meant as a greeting. "Good day, Francis. I know that this may be sudden, but I would like to ask for your help." Francis blinked in surprise, but it didn't take long until a leer crept up on his lips.

"Oooh my, you want my help?" he purred and walked with slow steps in circles around Roderich. "Well, I'm happy to inform you that you've asked the right person then…" All of a sudden he stopped when he were positioned right behind Roderich and unexpectedly wrapped his arms around the man's chest. With a smirk he added, with a suggestive tone of voice: "How about giving me some details about what's…troubling you?"

"Please stop that, idiot." Roderich replied surprisingly calmly while trying to shove away the clinging man. "I meant that we need help to save as much food as we can from the storages. It seems like the ants' target this time was to destroy our food-supplies, and if we want something to put on our tables in the near future we better go there and see how much of it that's still eatable."

"Mon dieu, you people are no fun at all!" Francis sighed when Roderich finally succeeded with pushing him away. "Fine, I'll join you. I can always hope for that my adorable Feli is there too…" he continued, and a new sly smile crept up once again on his lips.

"I highly doubt that Ludwig will allow you to even get near him in the first place." Roderich objected, and after brushing off his clothes he looked at Alfred instead. "Would you perhaps like to join us? We need all the help we can get."

"Weeeeell…I kinda have something to do actually. Do you know where Arthur is?" Alfred asked while scratching the back of his head. Francis, who was still standing behind Roderich, raised his eyebrows and gave him a crooked smile, although Alfred didn't understand what he meant with that.

"I and Elizabeta met him a few minutes ago, but he refused to talk to us. He looked quite upset to be honest." Roderich said thoughtfully, tapping his finger on his cheek. Alfred felt a sting of guilt in his heart, but he shook his head as if to protest against it; he was going to make up with Arthur, so there was nothing to be worried about. "But I'm sure of that he's still here in the village somewhere. I can ask Elizabeta to help you find him when she comes back."

"I'm already here!" a female voice suddenly called out, and when the three men turned around the woman from before were walking towards them, vaguely panting. She held the frying-pan from before in both of her hands, and Alfred couldn't help but notice that it had received a big bump in the middle.

"Ah, Elizabeta. Good timing." Roderich started, but hesitated when he noticed the bump in her frying-pan as well. "…What happened to Gilbert?"

"I just beat the crap out of him!" Elizabeta answered with a cheerful and proud smile, embracing the frying-pan like if it was a stuffed animal. "I think it might be a new record too; it only took 53 seconds before I caught up to him and knocked him out cold this time!"

"…I- I see…" Roderich said hesitantly before he cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "A-anyways, could you perhaps take care of this man while Francis and I take a look at the storages? He's looking for Arthur."

"Certainly, dear!" the woman responded eagerly, but when she looked at Alfred she couldn't help but giggle. "But before that, let's find something better for you to wear, shall we?" she added with a caring smile and nodded towards the light-blue dirty pyjamas that he was still wearing.

OxOxO

Toris, Eduard and Raivis stood lined-up in front of Ivan's desk, glancing unsurely at each other now and then. They had been called to their boss's room a few minutes earlier, but when they had entered the room the chair by the desk was turned towards the window, making it impossible to see who was sitting there. None of them dared to open their mouths or even move a limb because of the intense glare from Natalia, who was standing beside the chair. They just simply stood there, hoping that the piece of furniture wouldn't turn around any time soon. Sadly their prayers weren't answered; suddenly the chair started to move slowly, revealing the familiar person that they all feared.

"Good evening, gentlemen." Ivan said in a stiff tone, his eyes looking empty and cold. "As you probably know I ordered an attack on the village that takes care of cultivating most of the food for those annoying Vegrandis's. The attack was a success, but that's not why I've called you here." He glanced towards Natalia who answered it with a nod. "My dear sister here who was in charge of the attack took notice of something very interesting in the village. She told me that she fought against an unfamiliar young man that couldn't use any kind of magic; it seems like he had no magic-level at all."

"N-no magic-level, sir?" Toris asked when he noticed that Ivan was staring straight into his eyes, looking like he was waiting for someone to ask him that.

"That's correct, Toris; no magic-level. I asked my sister to describe what this man looked like, and I couldn't help but take notice of that her description of him matches the appearance of the human that I shrunk with my own two hands a while ago." As he leaned forward on the desk a disturbing smile started to creep up on his lips. "But that's just a coincidence, right? Because I was told that the ants had succeeded in killing that man a few nights ago, right?" When no one in the trio answered Ivan leaned back in his chair with his hands folded together.

"Raivis, come here." Raivis winced by the sudden command and trembled even worse, too scared to even move. "Raivis, it's an order." Ivan demanded, his voice sounding lower than it usually did. The short boy took a few hesitating steps forward, but when Ivan hawked he finally ran over to the intimidating man's chair. "Now…tell me, Raivis." Ivan said with an unexpectedly gentle voice and turned towards the trembling boy. "Do you think it's just a coincidence that this unknown man looks so much like the one that's supposedly dead and eaten?"

"I-I…I d-don't know, sir…" Raivis answered, his voice cracking greatly, while staring down on his shoes with his small hands tightly gripped together. Ivan slowly rose up from his chair and ran a hand through Raivis's short messy hair.

"You know, Raivis…I personally think that it IS the same man; that he somehow managed to escape from the ants. But I'm sure of that I got reports about that the ants had eaten him; not leaving a single trace left, not even a single bone. But that must mean…" All of a sudden he grabbed Raivis's head with his large hand and slowly started to push it down, and his tone of voice changed into a much deeper one. "That must mean that somebody has lied to me…!" He put even more pressure on the poor boy's head, causing him to tremble even worse than before.

"I-I-It hurts…! M-mr Iv-v-an…!" Raivis whispered panicky with tears streaming down his pale cheeks. When Toris saw this he bit his lip, doing his best to resist saying anything; Raivis would probably be in even more danger if someone said something that could upset Ivan further. He peeked at Eduard and saw how the blond man had his eyes tightly shut, clutching his hands together behind his back so much that they had turned white by now.

"Because I was certain…" Ivan continued, paying no attention to Raivis's plea. "That that human was finished for good. I was certain that I wouldn't have to bother thinking about him any more. But instead, he's still running around causing problems for us by killing ants and helping Vegrandis." The tall man squeezed the boy's head even harder. "How do you explain that, da? How do you-!"

"LITTLE BROTHER!" When the new voice echoed through the air Ivan instantly silenced, and everyone looked in the direction where the voice came from. There, in the doorway, stood a young, gentle-looking woman with short blonde hair, kept back by a white hair band and a few clips, and with an abnormally large bosom. "Please, little brother…stop this…" she whispered with her hands clutched together, her blue-coloured eyes filled with tears. Ivan stared at her dumbfounded, almost like he had seen a ghost. He slowly turned his gaze towards Raivis, who was quietly sobbing with his eyes shut, and a short moment later he suddenly shoved away the boy, making him fall to the ground.

"Everyone except Toris; get out of my room." he said with a low voice and sat down in his chair again while rubbing his temples. Everyone in the room looked confusedly at each other – even the otherwise unmoved Natalia looked like a lost little child –, not sure what to do or say. "Now." Ivan suddenly hissed and slammed his hands onto his desk. With a swift movement Eduard leaped forward to help Raivis get up on his legs again, and with the help of the gentle-looking woman they managed to carry him out of the room with his arms resting on their shoulders. The boy breathed heavily and hiccupped occasionally, looking like he was in deep shock with tears still pouring from his eyes. The last one to leave the room was Natalia, and right before she closed the door she gave Toris a glare that made him feel even more uneasy than before. When the others had disappeared the room had turned a lot colder right away, and even though Toris did his best to not tremble he could feel how his legs betrayed him by shaking violently. Oh, how he wished that he would have been allowed to leave the room with the others. Anything would have been better than having to stand in front of his intimidating boss, who was gazing at him with eyes cold as ice, all alone.

"I have some new orders, da." Ivan suddenly said, making Toris flinch slightly because of the surprise before regaining his posture. "First of all I want you to put together a group of insects that shall take care of the human. I want him to see him dead as soon as possible."

"…But sir, is that really necessary?" Toris asked, but hesitated when he saw how Ivan's eyes narrowed. "I-I mean, it's just one person that can't even use magic! Is he really that big of a threat to us?" he quickly added.

"A threat? I never said anything about him being a threat, Toris." Ivan answered with a smile that caused the brown-haired man's legs to shake even worse. "A minimized human who can't kill more than two pathetic ants? No, he's not a threat to us at all. I just don't like knowing that someone I expected to be dead is still alive. It makes me feel like…a failure. And I think you're clever enough to understand that I do not like to feel like a failure." He rose from his chair and walked over to the large window with slow steps. "Secondly, make sure that all of the ants that were ordered to take care of Jones get executed. I'm not in need of liars in Predateli."

"W-what? ! B-but…!"

"Also." he continued, ignoring what Toris was about to say. "I'm not sure whether I should punish Eduard and Raivis as well." He turned around, facing Toris with a grave expression. "Something tells me that they were involved in this lie too."

"N-NO! P-please, Mr. Ivan, they had nothing to do with it! It was…" Toris stopped, realising what he had almost revealed. He glanced unsurely towards Ivan, but when he saw his dark eyes he instantly turned his gaze down towards the floor instead. He knew. Toris didn't even bother with trying to stop his trembling legs by now; he already knew. "He's going to execute me too!" was the only thought running through his head, and he could feel how his face turned pale. After a short moment of silence, although it felt like an eternity, Ivan finally spoke.

"I would prefer if you don't lie to me like that in the future, Toris. I thought you knew that I trust you the most of everyone in Predateli." he said sombrely and faced the window once again with his back turned towards Toris. "I'm very disappointed with you." When Toris heard this he raised his head slowly and stared at Ivan's back dumbfounded. He was being…spared? He sighed quietly in relief, but then he remembered something else; Ivan's other orders.

"B-b-but sir, the ants…" he started.

"You can leave now. Give all of those useless lying ants to Caelifera; I doubt that she'll say no to some living meat for dinner tonight."

"S-sir, I think that-!"

"And I don't think she would say no to the flesh of a cheeky blond acquaintance of yours either." Ivan added and glanced back at Toris with a look that said "you-get-my-point,-don't-you?". "Now, leave. Before I change my mind." Toris bit his lip, knowing that he couldn't win this argument. He would never be able to win against Ivan. Never.

"…Yes, sir…"

~End of Chapter 8~

Character-scribbles: Toris and Feliks in his "working"-clothes 8D (Remove spaces, and sorry for bad quality D: Stupid camera...)

http:/ yfrog. com /mxtorisfeliks1p

So ummm yeah...I'll probably make a scribble out of Feliks's dress as well in the future~! (and yeeeeah I knooooow, his clothes looks lot like Spain's official costume...but it's green instead with a pink ribbon 8D Hm? What green? A FABULOUS green of course! -shot-) Anyways, I'm actually quite confident about that it won't take that long to finish the next chapter...it's kinda short = faster to write :D (To be honest I think that it won't be longer than around 4500 words...it may be even less than 4000 words! o_O Short chapter is short!) I'm gonna do my best before school start again! (SCHOOOOOOL EWWWWWWWWWWW! SHOOT ME NOW PLEASE. D:)

Awesome people review fanfics. Are you awesome?