Ivan scanned the room as he entered it, hoping to find who he was looking for. He was nearly bouncing with excitement to tell his friends about what he'd seen. By the time he'd gotten home the day before, they were all either studying or asleep, and he didn't want to disturb them. But now? It was around noon and they all had the same time free from class. It was Ivan's idea for them to have lunch together and no one complained, so it was fine.

Finally, Ivan caught sight of his four friends and happily walked over to them. There was Toris, who was the same year as Ivan. He was mostly elf, but his family had mixed blood with humans as well. He had fairly long brown hair that he used to hide his ears most of the time. Half-elves usually weren't treated quite well. Then there was Feliks, and incredibly interesting person in Ivan's opinion. He was human, blonde, and adored dressing like a girl, but he insisted on male pronouns when asked. He was about a year younger than Ivan and wasn't very good at magic. Then Eduard, who was a very bright human with very little magic potential. He'd skipped a few grades and was very proud of that. Finally, there was Ravis, a very small elf that was in his second year at the university. Ivan had the luck of befriending him in a basic history class about the country of Renold three hundred years ago that he took for review. It had been three years since he'd looked over that history anyway. Ravis was very gifted, but was afraid to stand out much, so he didn't do many impressive things.

"Hello!" Ivan said cheerfully as he walked up to his friends. All of them seemed to be slightly startled by his presence out of nowhere, but that happened often. Ravis must have been cold again, considering he was shaking as he usually did.

"Well, look at that, he's alive," Feliks smirked and Ivan smiled. Toris had left space to his side not already occupied by Feliks so Ivan decided to sit there. The smile refused to leave his face. He was in a really good mood, after all.

"How was it?" Toris asked. Ivan practically beamed. It was common knowledge by now that he was a guard in charge of guarding The Dictator. A few of his professors throughout the day had asked him about it and he didn't mind telling his stories multiple times over. Some professors were more interested in the layout of the building, others in the workers, and a lot in The Dictator himself.

"He is absolutely nothing like his portraits," Ivan mused.

"What do you mean?" Eduard asked.

"He's smaller than I expected," Ivan shrugged. "He's not incredibly well built, though I won't deny he's muscular. He's not extraordinarily tall, though perhaps he was a thousand years ago…And he looks like he's about 20."

"No way, he was only 20?" Ravis asked with wide eyes. Ivan nodded. He loved recounting this, he'd never get tired of it. He would also never tire of walking into that cell and staring at The Dictator himself, daydreaming about the stories he could tell.

"Considering when he lived," Ivan shrugged, "I would say the average life span was around 40 anyway."

"Still, if he was only 20, that's very interesting," Toris mused. "What was the cell like?"

Ivan continued recounting his tale, trying to come up with as many memories as he could muster. He wanted to impress his friends, after all. It wasn't often he could actually command a conversation like this, especially without his friends seeming at least slightly intimidated. Now, Ivan's own intimidation was outweighed by The Dictator.

While Ivan was in the middle of explaining the layout of the room and how The Dictator was hovering, he hadn't noticed someone walk up behind him.

"Brother, why didn't you tell me when you got home last night?" a voice said suddenly and Ivan was momentarily shocked out of his own thoughts.

"Sorry, Natalia," Ivan winced, looking over his shoulder, where his younger sister stood. If some people thought Ivan was intimidating, Natalia was frightening. Naturally, he would never say that to her, but she had the ability to make Ivan nervous. "I was rather tired last night." All considering, his sister was pretty and she looked delicate. She had, however, inherited almost as much magic as Ivan, though she wasn't near as good at controlling it. She also proved her intelligence by following Ivan to this university on a full-ride scholarship like him. She just had a few…really tiny flaws.

"I wanted to wait for you to get home, but sister wouldn't let me go to your apartment," Natalia scowled. She was a tiny bit obsessed with Ivan.

"I appreciate you not breaking into my apartment for the sixth time this semester," Ivan offered. It was only two weeks into the semester and she knew how to get past every enchantment Ivan put up.

"How are you today, Natalia?" Toris piped up bravely and Ivan sighed. Great, a distraction. Maybe he could use this as a chance to get away…If he let Natalia keep all of her attention on him, she tended to follow him to his classes, sometimes even attend them with him, warding away the people that had their usual spots beside him. She just happened to be another reason why Ivan didn't have many friends.

"Fine," Natalia said simply.

Ivan briefly shot Toris a glance of apology before he stood up. He needed to try studying before his next class and he couldn't have Natalia scare the librarian again. As much as Ivan loved her, there were times he needed to be alone. And Ivan could tell that Toris had some sort of feelings for his sister. Ivan trusted him, so he'd allow it for now, if she would ever reciprocate…

"Natalia, I hear you are writing a paper about the effects of word pronunciation with spells," Ivan offered with a smile, slowly moving her to the spot he was previously taking. "That happens to be Toris' specialty. How about you talk with him about it?"

"What?" Natalia blinked.

"I'm afraid I have studying to do, but Toris wouldn't mind helping you, would he?" Ivan offered, looking at Toris, who shook his head, sighing slightly.

"No, of course I wouldn't," Toris smiled.

"God, do I have to listen to you go on and on about spells again?" Feliks groaned, throwing his head back. Ravis and Eduard laughed lightly.

"Thank you," Ivan smiled. "I will see you later, Natalia, I promise."

With that, Ivan swiftly walked out of the room and into the outside air. It was beginning to cool with fall, but it still wasn't cold enough for him to wear his favorite scarf…Well, he could wait a few weeks, that was no problem. He smiled faintly at the thought that, in just another few hours, he would be back in the Detainment Center. He could see The Dictator again…

He straightened himself up before he walked briskly across campus so he could reach the library. He had about an hour before his class and he was skipping lunch so that he would have enough time to study properly. With the help of a little magic, he should be perfectly fine. He just wanted to be careful. He had 100% in the class so far and he didn't want to hurt his reputation just because he had a job now.

After entering the library, it was just a quick walk to the stacks, which he considered almost like a second home. His apartment was cozy, yes, but the library was like unlimited information for him. He wanted to be able to read all of the books someday…He weaved through the stacks until he reached a familiar section; Beasts. His current class was on the historic uses of various beasts, extinct or otherwise. So it was only a few minutes of searching before Ivan had found all of the books necessary for his research.

He weaved through the maze of stacks until he found an empty desk and set up the 10 books he'd found. That was just enough for him to make sure he covered everything. It was a tad excessive, but you could never be sure.

After laying out the books in front of him, Ivan took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts as he closed his eyes. This was a technique he'd discovered back when he was about 13. Apparently not many people could master it.

He could faintly hear the sound of pages turning, more focused on the words that flittered across his vision. Ivan didn't bother trying to read every single word, that was pointless. But he could practically feel the information entering his mind. He sorted through the information as quickly as his mind would allow. It was a great way to refresh what he had already learned. Personally, when it came to learning things for the first time, he liked to read without the help of magic. But for review? This was the best way.

The alarm he'd set on his phone beeped and he was jolted out of his focus, the books pages falling limp as he opened his eyes. It had already been 45 minutes? Time really flew by while he was studying…

Ivan quickly closed the books and replaced them where he'd found them before darting out of the library. He wound up making it to his class the minute class started.

Ivan stared at the door of the elevator as it descended, almost too slow. Ivan was almost excited to see The Dictator again. It was so fascinating to see someone who had been alive a thousand years ago and still could, in theory, live on. Could still tell his stories. Ivan couldn't help but wonder…who knew how much of the history books were wrong? After all, they were written by the people that had locked him away. Ivan couldn't help but wonder what this mysterious man was really like as a dictator, the way he lead his troops. It was incredibly fascinating.

Finally, the doors opened and Ivan briskly walked through the hallway before placing his hand on the wall where Arthur had shown him the day before. The door appeared and opened for him and Ivan stepped inside. The Dictator was the same as always, unmoved. Ivan smiled faintly at him, watching him in interest as he walked to the platform.

"Oh, are you the kid I've been hearing about?" a chipper voice asked in the quiet just before Ivan placed his hand on the platform. He blinked and looked to the side, where he could see a brunette elf smiling at him. It was Feliciano, Lovino's twin.

"Yes, my name is Ivan," Ivan nodded and Feliciano nodded happily.

"My name's Feli," he smiled happily and held out his hand for Ivan to take. Ivan did. Well, maybe making friends couldn't be that hard…He smiled and he noticed Feliciano shiver slightly. Or maybe not… "It's, um, good to meet you!" Well, at least Feliciano was trying to be friends, too.

"Likewise," Ivan said. "Have you worked here long?"

"Um, a few months," Feliciano shrugged. "Lovi and I got hired at the same time. I'm sure you met him yesterday. I promise he's usually a little nicer than that."

"I'm sure," Ivan smiled. "Do you know anything about him?" he asked as he glanced towards The Dictator, hovering immobile over the ground. Feliciano blinked.

"Probably no where near as much as you," Feliciano shook his head. "I heard you're quite an impressive student."

"Thank you," Ivan nodded and turned back to the platform. He placed his hand over it and felt the magic being pulled from him once again. That feeling would definitely take some getting used to.

"Well, I should get going, but I hope you have fun," Feliciano chimed, walking towards the exit. "Try not to get too bored!"

Ivan nodded. He wasn't too worried about being bored. In silence again with The Dictator, he couldn't help but just look at him closer. He was fascinating. Ivan couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if the man woke up. On the off chance he didn't immediately try to take over the world again, there was a massive amount of information in his brain Ivan didn't know. He most likely knew all about Dark Magic and its uses as well as how it feels. Ivan had always been curious about the banned magic. Then there was the fact that he was alive when not many records were being written down. There was almost nothing on his time period and literally nothing from that time period that didn't involve The Dictator in some way.

Ivan sighed, walking close to the man to look at his face a little closer. He was so calm…almost like he was dreaming. But the complex spell put on him had him completely frozen. If he opened his eyes now, it would be like he'd only blinked. Blinked forward one thousand years.

He was fairly good looking, Ivan had to admit. He had quite a coating of dirt over him, but that was expected from his time period. He was so young, too…Ivan had to admire the fact that someone younger than him had managed to almost completely control the world.

Ivan smiled.

What was his personality like, he wondered…

Ivan sighed, his hands in his pockets, as he walked around the room. He paused, however, when he felt something…strange. Like a small…leak of power…Was something wrong with the platform or something? Ivan was about to turn around to check on it when he heard the sound of someone humming. He froze where he stood. There had been no sound of someone coming in. Ivan slowly turned to look at The Dictator, who was still as motionless as ever.

"This location is quite queer," a man mused behind him and Ivan turned around as quickly as possible, holding out his hand while building up some of the magic inside of him. He blinked in surprise at the view in front of him. The Dictator was still in sight, floating beside him…and yet…

The Dictator was standing before him, his back straight and chest out as if to assert his dominance. Ivan shivered at the sight of the man's eyes. They were completely black, but there was a bright blue ring in the center of them.

"What?" Ivan wondered out loud, looking between the two Dictators in front of him. "How are you…"

"I…" The Dictator took a deep breath. The sound of his voice seemed to only accent the fact that he was just a kid, but his posture certainly didn't. Ivan wouldn't have even hesitated to guess that this man was in the military. The Dictator looked around the room with wide, interested eyes before fully taking in Ivan.

"You can't be there," Ivan shook his head and The Dictator blinked in surprise. "You're over there. How are you doing this?"

"I…require a moment," The Dictator said simply and the one standing vanished from sight. Ivan looked around the room, but everything was just as it normally was. Still. Quiet. The floating Dictator remained completely still, but Ivan could still feel the small leak of power, almost unnoticeable now. He should tell someone…He should…but he couldn't leave his post, especially not now.

But there was something else causing Ivan to hesitate. He'd seen The Dictator's eyes, he'd heard him speak…He had just said that he needed a moment. Did that mean he would…somehow return soon? It didn't make any sense…The Dictator was frozen in time right beside him. He shouldn't be able to use magic…and yet…it seemed like he had.

I had a small internal war if I wanted Lietpol or Lietbel, but I decided on the latter just because it works a little better for the story. It doesn't play a big role, I promise. Plus, Feliks is, like, totally a free agent now, which I think fits him a bit better than being in a relationship. And also! Alfred's woken up. Sort of. I'll explain more next time, but just now that things aren't as they seem. I love this plot so much and I'm so excited! So you'll be seeing more soon!

I'll see you then!