By the time they made it through the already dwindling crowd that was being forced away by workers at the Detainment Center, the power had been restored. Ivan kept a hold on Alfred's elbow to keep him going in the right direction. Everyone aside from the few directors that were already working avoided them like a plague. One thing Ivan noticed as they walked inside, however, was how childishly wide Alfred's eyes were as he took in everything. The entrance was about the same as before, though there were some marks across the floors and walls, signs of a struggle with some furniture knocked over.
"What is that?" Alfred asked in wonder as they passed the empty secretary desk. Ivan glanced at him questioningly before following his gaze. Ivan never really thought twice about the secretary desk, but it wasn't that…impressive. Using a mixture of magic and electricity, there was a spinning globe of the world above the secretary desk that kept real time with the shadows of the sun. It showed what half of the world was cloaked in night and what half was awake for the day.
Ivan stayed quiet at risk of letting his relationship with Alfred be exposed. Arthur and Francis and the other members of the board on duty didn't seem to have any intentions of informing him. Alfred wasn't able to tear his eyes away from it until it was completely out of sight. He pouted childishly, turning forward once again. Ivan had never been to this side of the Detainment Center, so his own curiosity was piqued. They walked through a few hallways before they reached an elevator.
Arthur pulled out a phone as they waited for the thing to come, another thing Alfred looked at curiously.
"What's that?" Alfred asked again, but no one answered him.
Arthur placed the phone to his ear, tapping his foot impatiently. He continued to glance back at Alfred, almost like he was afraid. He probably was. Everyone was. Their group was small, just six people including Alfred. The air was tense, but Alfred showed zero signs of noticing.
"What's he doing?" Alfred asked.
"Don't make me restrain your mouth, too," Arthur snapped and Alfred blinked before letting out a laugh.
"Kinky," Alfred smirked. Arthur opened his mouth to retort, but apparently the person on the other line picked up.
"Yes, good, both of you heard about it," Arthur sighed. "As much as I hate the news coverage, that's useful. Luckily no one knows his face…Yes, if you could that would be appreciated. You two are the closest of all the guards and we need Ivan for questioning." Ivan raised a brow. Questioning? Did they suspect him at all? "If you're not already on your way, get here fast. We can't afford to wait for long." He hung up and stored his phone as the elevator finally arrived. Alfred stared at the inside of the doors with apt interest.
"Feli and Lovino?" Francis asked curiously as they all stepped inside, Ivan still holding Alfred close to him. Everyone seemed to tense at the idea of being alone in the elevator with The Dictator. Alfred, on the other hand, stared at the buttons after Arthur pressed one and they started moving. Arthur nodded stiffly.
"Whoa, what do those do?" Alfred asked. Again, no one answered the question. They were quiet for a few moments, Alfred juggling his feet. "So…we just gonna be quiet this whole time? No one gonna answer my questions?" Another stiff silence. Alfred let out a long sigh. "Well, that's lame."
The doors opened after another long silence, Alfred about to say something else. They opened on a floor that seemed to be made almost entirely out of windows for the outside walls. Alfred stared in shock as he looked out at the city around them from that height. It most likely rivaled the villages he had known in his past by a lot.
"Are you serious?" Alfred breathed out as he was forced forward by Ivan. Ivan couldn't help the small smile that formed on his face at that. They stopped in front of a rather heavy looking door with a scanner beside it. Arthur placed his hand on it and the door slid open. Alfred watched in interest as they walked into a rather basic looking room. It…it was a cell, but slightly more advanced than regular cells. The room was split in two, one side three times bigger than the other and separated by what would soon be a magic wall. On the smaller side was just one chair and, on the larger side was a bed, a sink, and toilet.
"Ivan," Arthur said and Ivan turned his attention to him, "until Feliciano and Lovino come to relieve you, we will leave you in charge of The Dictator. We will prepare a room for an important meeting to discuss what just happened. I'll send directions to your phone. As soon as you're relieved, come there. Understand?"
"Yes," Ivan nodded. He moved Alfred onto the bed before he stepped to the smaller part of the room. Lines marked the ground where the proper rooms would be after magic was applied. The members of the board filed out, giving Ivan plenty of room. Before the door closed, Ivan put up the wall of magic himself, effectively dividing the room.
"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Alfred asked after the door closed.
"You know more than me about what's happening," Ivan said simply.
"Yeah, because I know all about that ball thingy of magic and the…the…you call it an…elevator?" Alfred pouted. "And…what is outside those windows? Is that really the city?"
Ivan smiled faintly. But Alfred was acting…different. Just slightly. And, admittedly, Ivan couldn't get used to seeing him without completely black eyes.
"That ball was a projection of the world," Ivan said and Alfred's eyes widened.
"Wait…you mean…but I thought it was flat," Alfred smiled. He laughed slightly. "It's…a sphere? How do you know?"
"We've had people go up into space to find out," Ivan offered.
"Are you serious?!" Alfred was on his feet he was so excited. "Wait, wait, wait, you can't just be so calm about this!" Ivan couldn't help but laugh. "You're telling me actual people went up, into the sky and out into the stars?"
"Well, the stars are further away than you thought," Ivan laughed. "But, yes, we have."
"Oh, my God," Alfred gaped. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That's fucking awesome! Holy shit!"
"It is…really cool," Ivan smiled.
"Okay, okay, okay, sorry, I need to focus," Alfred shook his head. "Dark Magic. Gilbert. I'm…free…sort of."
"And your Dark Magic?" Ivan asked. If he could get answers before talking with the members of the board…plus he was already curious.
"Oh, that?" Alfred shrugged. "No one really knows anything about Dark Magic because no one's allowed to study it, but you can…shut it off…in essence. It's uh…complicated, I guess."
"We have some time," Ivan shrugged.
"I guess so," Alfred sighed. "Okay, so it works like this," he leaned forward where he sat, trying to move his hands as he spoke. "Dark Magic is, like, one solid thing. Something you invite in when you need it. And you can expel it, too, but that takes way more effort than it does to invite it. While in your head, it's kind of like a…parasite, I guess."
"A parasite?" Ivan asked. Then again, Alfred did say that Dark Magic…hurt…
"It goes into your brain," Alfred said. "Everyone knows why it's illegal; because it makes your mind take a dark turn. It takes away any inhibitions from your brain. Meaning any dark thoughts you have…you will do. And it'll start to dampen any good thoughts you have. I got lucky when I was frozen in time, they froze me while I was using Dark Magic, meaning I could use the power and do whatever it took to get out."
"So how can you even get rid of it?" Ivan asked. "If it dampens any good thoughts you have."
"It's exhausting," Alfred shrugged. "It's not easy, but I make sure I can do it every time. I'm not heartless and I'm damn sure I'm not gonna be heartless."
The door to the room opened and Ivan stood up straight as he watched Feliciano and Lovino come in. Both of them seemed a little hesitant to come in, not tearing their eyes from Alfred.
"Hey, we have guests," Alfred winked at them.
"I can't believe he actually got out…" Lovino mused. "And on your watch."
"None of this was my fault," Ivan scoffed.
"Yeah, he actually chased after me," Alfred shrugged. "Damn brave, all considering."
"He…uh…can't get out, can he?" Feliciano asked, looking at the wall of magic carefully.
"It's using my magic for now," Ivan said. "For security reasons, I don't think we can change whose magic we're using. It shouldn't change with distance."
"His eyes…" Feliciano gasped.
"Aren't they gorgeous?" Alfred winked again.
"Anyway, I need to go," Ivan sighed, walking towards the door. "So far, he hasn't done anything dangerous. He's already agreed to cooperate."
"Yeah?" Lovino asked suspiciously, not turning away from Alfred.
"You'll be fine," Ivan said, leaving the room. He paused for a second as the door closed behind him. This would be the first time Alfred actually communicated with someone other than Ivan in a thousand years. His conversation with Arthur barely counted…and Ivan wouldn't be there. He almost felt…jealous.
Ivan laughed slightly, shaking his head. He pulled out his phone to find the directions. The very top floor, the first door on the right after the elevator. Ivan followed the directions, waiting impatiently in the elevator. He never really thought before about how tall this building really was. Most of it was individual cells for some of the most dangerous criminals, a mixture of magic and technology keeping them in place. Though the individual cells were nothing in comparison to the cell of the infamous Dictator underground, but they were still quite advanced.
Once the doors opened, he turned to the door as instructed. When he entered, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. They'd managed to bring as many members of the board together as possible, along with Antonio. There was an empty seat between Francis and Arthur, which Ivan quickly took, ducking his head away from all of the staring eyes.
"Alright, to start from the beginning," Arthur sighed and Ivan noticed that everyone had papers in front of them along with a pen. To take notes, probably. "Ivan, we'll need you to tell us everything that happened since you got down to The Dictator."
"Oh, sure," Ivan nodded. He hoped that he would be able to learn about what happened with Gilbert. What had actually made him turn to using Dark Magic? Ivan glanced around the room and was surprised to see that Antonio was sporting a handful of bruises, along with a bleeding nose. "It was a normal shift at first, but then the power began to flicker. After a short time, the power shut off completely. A…The Dictator woke up and the guards tried to come in and stop him but…their bullets just seemed to ricochet off of him, didn't even stop him. He knocked them all down before running out of the room. I followed him up the elevator shaft and outside, but I couldn't even get near him to stop him. I'm sure you all saw his aura and the magic he's capable of."
"And that's it?" Arthur asked. "Nothing else noteworthy? Anything out of the ordinary?"
Well…not anything out of the ordinary that Ivan wasn't already keeping a secret.
Ivan shook his head.
Arthur nodded thoughtfully. Francis cleared his throat, looking at Antonio, who flinched slightly.
"The incident started between Gilbert and Antonio," Francis said simply. "As far as we can tell, Gilbert resorted to using Dark Magic and it's consumed him. Antonio?"
"We were just messing around," Antonio sighed. "I…I was trying to get him to move an apple, see if he had even basic magic in him, you know? And…well…eventually he did it, he moved the apple all the way across the room. But when I looked at him, his eyes were black. I couldn't really read the expression on his face, but I knew it didn't look right. After that, he tried testing this new power on the receptionist, making her fly backwards. I tried to calm him down, but I was next. Then everyone else inside. After that, he tried out some other magic. He managed to overload the circuit with electricity I guess, and after that he just…went on a rampage…"
Ivan mused for a moment, staring at his blank paper. So Gilbert had resorted to using Dark Magic after all…But why? Why was it such a big deal? He'd seemed perfectly happy with his life the way it was…there was no reason for him to act out like this.
"And, as we all know," Arthur said, "The Dictator showed himself and fought Gilbert. For reasons we don't know. Gilbert managed to disappear, but The Dictator remained and offered us a deal. That we keep him awake long enough to apprehend Gilbert."
"Don't forget what he managed to do with his Dark Magic," another board member scoffed and Arthur nodded.
"He also seems to hold the ability to…shut off his Dark Magic," Arthur sighed.
"If you don't mind," Ivan offered. "I was able to get him to explain that to me."
"You…talked with him?" Arthur asked incredulously.
"He was already talkative," Ivan winced. He hoped this was a good idea… "I just asked out of curiosity. He was more than happy to explain it to me. He called it a…parasite. One that you can will into your body and…force out. But the latter is much more difficult."
"That's interesting," Francis nodded. "We could learn quite a lot about Dark Magic from him, to understand it if something like this happens again."
"Something like this is happening now," a board member pressed. "And we can't trust someone like…like The Dictator to work with us! Look at history!"
"History hasn't told us much about him in the first place," Ivan spoke up. He froze, almost surprised at his own outburst. Was he really defending Alfred? Ivan knew just what Alfred had done in the past and he was…making excuses for him…
"That means nothing," Arthur said harshly. "All that we know now is that he is awake, that it will take another 50 of the strongest magic users in the world to memorize an incredibly complex spell in order to imprison him again…and he's expressed a willingness to work with us. As far as we know, he can't even…shove out his Dark Magic and he's just pretending. He's still an incredibly dangerous dictator that we can't trust."
"What other choice do we have?" a board member asked. "We're stuck without the man power to take down someone who's gone crazy with Dark Magic. Only The Dictator has the power to take him down."
"That doesn't mean we should use him as a weapon!" another board member snapped.
"Then do tell how you expect to stop Gilbert," Francis offered. "With the assumption that you can force out Dark Magic, that means that there's a chance to get Gilbert back."
"Anybody willing to use Dark Magic is dangerous and cannot be brought back," a board member stated.
"Gilbert is my friend," Antonio said pointedly. "If there's a chance we can bring him back from this, I want to take it. He's not a mindless killing machine, I know him."
"Did you think he was the kind of person to use Dark Magic?" a board member asked.
"That's impossible to tell," another board member shook his head. "Anyone could be enticed into using it, especially someone with no magic."
"Regardless," Arthur said pointedly. "He will need to be apprehended and his actions put to an end. By any means necessary. There's no recent news of him attacking anywhere, which means he's biding his time, learning his skills. We need to find him before he would act again."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Francis asked.
"The Dictator," Ivan said simply and flinched when he noticed everyone's eyes on him. "When he woke up, he did say something about someone using Dark Magic, how he had to stop him. He was able to sense from underground that someone was using Dark Magic. And he had every intention of stopping it."
"There have to be other ideas," Arthur said.
"I'm for it," Francis said and Ivan blinked. Francis smiled and nodded towards him. "That's what this board is for, right? Let's vote on it, make the tough decisions. We can contact the police force after we've decided on a course of action."
"I second the movement for a vote," another board member spoke up. "Only board members, however."
"Fair enough," Arthur nodded. "Then let's vote." Ivan glanced around the room, there were nine board members that he could count. Not all of them were there, but that was to be expected. Most of the time, not all of them worked on the same day, just in case someone planned an attack on the Detainment Center. And considering the circumstances, most probably wanted to be on the lookout for a possible attack.
"All in favor for using The Dictator as a means to stop Gilbert's use of Dark Magic," Francis offered, raising his own hand. Four others raised their hands and Arthur glowered at all of them. "All opposed," Francis smirked at Arthur, who raised his hand with three others. They were out-numbered.
"Ivan and Antonio," Arthur sighed, "stay with Feliciano and Lovino in guarding The Dictator while we work out this ridiculous plan we've apparently voted on."
"Of course," Ivan nodded and stood up with Antonio. The room was quiet as they left and Ivan shut the door soundly behind them.
"Thank you!" Antonio cheered as he hugged Ivan tightly. Ivan blinked at the shorter man, unsure of how to react to something like that. "Did you really mean what you said?" Antonio looked at him with wide eyes.
"Well, you can ask The Dictator yourself," Ivan offered. Antonio smiled.
"Do you think Gilbert can be saved?" Antonio asked.
"I can hope," Ivan nodded.
"Thanks," Antonio smiled. "It's because of you that they even thought about trying to save him, instead of just kill him. I know Francis will want to help him, too, no matter what."
"It's what friends are for," Ivan smiled. He walked towards the elevator, pressing the button. "Are you ready to meet him?"
"It'd be great to finally meet the man I've been guarding for a few years," Antonio laughed nervously. "You've talked with him? Is he as intimidating as I'm guessing?"
"Far from it," Ivan chuckled.
Wow, I totally didn't expect this to go on for as long as it did, but these people just love talking, don't they? Anyway, we know a little more about Alfred and his perspective towards Dark Magic. His personality is slightly different with the absence of the Dark Magic, but he is, more or less, the same person. And what about Gilbert? Well, that will be explained more later!
I'll see you then!