Natalia could always tell when something was wrong. Ivan could have sworn that, if it were possible, she had telepathy. In any case, the next morning when Ivan was making breakfast, he heard a surprisingly patient knock at his door. When Ivan answered it, he found a surprisingly patient Natalia standing there, staring at the ground.

"Yes?" Ivan asked.

"Toris told me something happened yesterday," she said, her voice still as cold and steely as ever. But Ivan could find the little tinges in her voice that said she cared. "I tried calling you, but you didn't pick up."

"And you didn't break in," Ivan mused. Did that mean he actually made something too strong for even Natalia?

"Well," Natalia slowly looked up at him. "Toris said that something bad happened. You didn't talk at all. And if you're not even answering your phone, no matter the time of day, something must be wrong, right? Does…does this have something to do with that cave-in yesterday?"

"Surprisingly, no," Ivan sighed. "Come inside, I can make you breakfast if you haven't eaten anything yet."

"Thank you, brother," Natalia smiled, gratefully accepting the invitation. This was interesting, Ivan mused as he closed the door. Usually if she knew something was wrong, she would barge in and make sure Ivan was okay. School was still canceled so Ivan didn't have anything to do today, anyway. Natalia might be a welcome distraction. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Maybe," Ivan sighed. He didn't know how far he could go into his story before questions were asked. He was still on a contract, after all. Even if he was fired, he couldn't talk about the secrets no one in the world could know. Natalia nodded before gracefully sitting down at the table, waiting for her breakfast. Ivan smiled, he needed a day to relax, he really did.

Ivan had never been to this coffee shop before. He knew it was popular, but he had never really been one for popular things. It was owned and run by foreigners and they brought with them some delicious secrets. Toris had invited Ivan there, actually. Both him and Natalia, though no one else. Maybe it was an excuse to be with Natalia, since everyone knew that she didn't exactly do dates, but if Ivan was there it wasn't a date. Ivan felt like he should be offended by such an idea, but at this point he was more amused than anything.

Walking into the store, he could see a few waiters mulling around, all treating everyone kindly and with big smiles. Ivan had to admit that it did smell heavenly inside…maybe a drink of coffee would do him some good…

Walking up to the counter with Natalia, Ivan looked around the store to see if he could find Toris. The store itself was incredibly busy, they would have to wait for a table, even.

"How can I help you?" a polite, but quiet voice asked and Ivan turned his attention to the short man at the counter. His name tag had the name "Kiku" neatly written across it. He seemed a little tense at meeting his gaze, but then again most people were intimidated by Ivan and Natalia, especially together.

"Um," Ivan blinked, eyes darting to the menu. The one downside to places like this was that all of their drinks were named and he had no idea what was in any of them.

"A medium White Forest for me," Natalia said bluntly.

"The same for me," Ivan muttered out awkwardly. Kiku nodded and quickly went to work calculating their total on his register. Ivan frowned when he noticed something…strange about his aura. It was a fairly dark green to begin with, but it looked like it had gotten darker or…something. But it was just in a second, could have been the lighting…

Kiku gave them their total and they paid. He gave them a number on a little stand and told them to have a seat and enjoy their drinks. Ivan didn't like places like this very much at all…

Luckily, Natalia had managed to…convince some people that looked finished to vacate their table and they sat down in no time. Ivan smiled as they sat down, Natalia sitting right next to him, leaving two empty seats in front of them for Toris. He was doing this to cheer himself up, and to distract himself. Distract himself from not only being fired from his job meaning he couldn't learn from Alfred, but also what Ivan wound up doing last night…

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Natalia asked.

Ivan took a deep breath, glancing out the window. He could see Toris walking up nervously. He totally meant this to be a date, at least as close as it could be to a date with Ivan there.

"I was fired," Ivan muttered.

"What? Why?" Natalia snapped. Ivan chuckled as he saw her anger rise for, really, no reason at all. "How could they do that to you? You're obviously the most qualified and most powerful of all the people in that stupid building!"

"Thank you," Ivan smiled. "It's not that big of a deal. Besides, now I don't have anything interfering with my school work."

"It's one thing to quit because you need more time," Natalia grumbled. "It's another to be fired."

"Regardless, I'm on a contract that states I can't tell you details," Ivan shrugged. "I just figured you should know."

"Well, at least now I have more time to see you," Natalia said. Ivan watched Toris come in and wait in the short line that had formed since they sat down. In no time, he had his order and sat with them, just in time for a person to come and drop off Ivan and Natalia's drinks. His name tag said his name was Yao, but he was far more apathetic than Kiku. He just nodded to them stiffly before taking his leave.

"Have you been waiting long?" Toris asked nervously as Ivan watched Yao curiously. The waiter went up and talked to Kiku quickly, distracting him from the current customer in front of him. They glanced at Ivan before they had a short, whispered argument. Then Yao went back to work, but Ivan noticed a glare sent his way.

"Ivan?" Toris asked and Ivan jumped, coming back to the present.

"Yes?" Ivan asked.

"You haven't been here before, have you?" Toris chuckled slightly and Ivan shook his head. He looked down at his drink. It was in a cute, little cup and there was delicate art traced in the froth, most likely with magic, of a forest. How adorable.

"I hear a lot of people talk about it," Natalia said. From the looks of her cup, she'd already taken a few drinks. "It's not bad, I'll admit."

Ivan took a sip himself and couldn't stop himself from smiling. He couldn't help it, it just filled him with a little euphoric feeling. He found his mind going back to think of one of the last times he'd felt this happy. Strangely, it had been with Alfred…

"Some people say that they use magic on their coffee," Toris said, tearing Ivan from his thoughts. "But I don't think that's even possible. I just think it's really good."

Ivan shook his head with a smile, taking another sip. Magic didn't affect feelings like that.

"So, Ivan," Toris said, changing the conversation, "are you alright after what happened yesterday? Feliks wanted to run after you and encourage you to go after your 'boyfriend', as he put it."

"Alfred is far from that," Ivan shook his head, noticing how Natalia stiffened at the mention of boyfriend. "I'm fine, and thank you for stopping him."

"Alfred?" Natalia asked stiffly.

"He's a friend," Ivan said.

"I thought I knew all of your friends," Natalia scowled and Ivan chuckled. She was just as protective as ever.

"He's from the center," Ivan said. "I doubt I'll even see him again."

"Fine," Natalia said simply, taking a long drink of her coffee. Ivan wondered what the feeling made Natalia think about…It wasn't often he could see her really smile with happiness, especially after she came to college with him and decided she had to be more mature and serious.

"So I hear school won't start again until after the weekend," Toris said. "Good news for me, I have a few extra days to study for a test."

"Sadly it means that I'll be bored all weekend," Ivan mused. "I've already finished all the homework I had to do."

"Hey, then that means you could come with us to the parade! That is, if you're still ahead next weekend." Toris offered with a smile. "Natalia can come to!"

"Oh, yeah, Freedom Day is coming up," Natalia mused.

Right, of course, Ivan had almost forgotten. Freedom Day was an international holiday. This year it was on a weekend, next weekend to be exact, otherwise school would have been shut down anyway. It was the day to celebrate the imprisonment of The Dictator. The capital always held a parade and then a festival that lasted all night, fireworks usually going off at midnight. Ivan wondered briefly what Alfred would think of something like that.

"Well, I don't see why not," Ivan shrugged. "It sounds like it could be fun."

"If you're going, then I definitely will," Natalia said.

"Good," Toris laughed. "I'll make sure Feliks tells you guys where we're going to meet. I'm pretty excited about this year, though. It's a whole millennia, I can only imagine all that they're going to do for it."

"Excuse me, sir," a girl's voice said and Ivan turned to see that it was a waitress, but she'd taken off her name tag. She looked pretty young, most likely working here because her family did, too. She had incredibly long hair, but it looked like she took care of it well, and it had a little flower peeking out of the side.

"Yes?" Ivan asked, glancing around to see if any of the other workers seemed to care.

"I just have to ask," she said quietly, almost like she was afraid, "I do a lot of studying and you're one of the guards for The Dictator, right?"

Ivan blinked as she stared up at him with wide, innocent brown eyes. Well, he certainly wasn't expecting a girl of maybe 14 or 15 asking her that question. Especially not considering his current situation.

"Um, yes," Ivan nodded slowly.

"Why do you care?" Natalia asked icily, ever jealous of any female contact Ivan had, regardless of her age.

"I just…" the girl pouted. "I'm a little scared with what happened at that building yesterday. A lot of people think it was Dark Magic that did it. Do you think The Dictator's gonna escape anytime soon?"

"Of course not," Ivan blurted out before he could stop himself. He sighed. "Don't worry, he's not going to cause anyone any harm."

"Now you should get back to work," Natalia said stiffly and Ivan glared back at her. She just shrugged, drinking more of her coffee.

"Thank you, mister!" she called out and immediately ran towards Kiku behind the counter, talking faster than Ivan thought was possible. This shop was getting more and more curious…

"Look out, you just might be a celebrity," Toris teased and Ivan rolled his eyes.

"Hardly," Ivan scoffed. "Barely anyone knows the name of even one guard."

"Well, you know the names of all of them," Toris shrugged.

"Are you trying to call me a nerd?" Ivan smiled and Toris shivered, but laughed anyway. Ivan couldn't help but laugh with him. This really was helping to relax him, regardless of the strange people working in the coffee shop.

They spent maybe an hour and a half talking in the coffee shop before they decided it was time to leave. Toris wanted to start studying because he knew he wouldn't be able to study at all on Sunday when Feliks wanted to hang out. Ivan also figured that he should try sorting through some of his thoughts about Alfred now that he had a clearer mind. Natalia figured she could do some studying as well.

As soon as they left the coffee shop, however, Ivan was surprised once again that day by the sight of Matthew running up to them.

"Ivan!" he panted slightly, catching his breath when he finally reached them. Ivan blinked. Why did today have to be so strange? "I've been looking for you! But you weren't at your apartment."

"Why are you looking for me?" Ivan asked curiously. Matthew Williams had no need of anyone that wasn't working at the Detainment Center.

"We need to do this in private," Matthew said, glancing at Natalia and Toris.

"Of course," Ivan nodded. He turned towards Natalia and Toris, who both nodded and left. Natalia made sure to squeeze out a tight hug from Ivan, glaring at Matthew, before she turned on her heel and left.

"Follow me," Matthew said simply and Ivan followed him curiously. They walked through the city for a short while before Matthew was satisfied by an alley with two full dumpsters. Well…no one was around to see them…

"What do you need?" Ivan asked. "You do know I was fired, right?"

"That's the problem," Matthew huffed. Ivan raised a brow. "The Dictator's been acting like a child since Arthur was able to bring him back. He refuses to listen to anyone, hell, he refuses to move unless we make him. And he's not talking when people are trying to come up with plans."

"And why are you coming to me about this?" Ivan asked. Alfred was acting strange…was this because Ivan had been fired? He wasn't immature enough to do this just because he couldn't see Ivan anymore…

"I've brought it up, but Arthur refuses to talk about it and Francis is busy," Matthew sighed. "Out of everyone, his relationship with you is the best out of all of the guards. I can ignore your comfort with him for now, though I'm having a lot of trouble ignoring the fact that you let him into the public…"

"I have problems with that as well," Ivan said.

"Look, I just want all of this to be over as soon as possible so he goes back to being frozen," Matthew said pointedly. "We should find Gilbert, do whatever we plan on doing with him, and then lock The Dictator back where he belongs. My time is already being wasted by being here anyway. The highest chance we have of him cooperating again is you coming back."

"Even I can't convince Alfred to do anything he doesn't want to," Ivan said. "How could you even get me back in the first place?"

"It would be as a guest of me or something," Matthew shrugged. "I really don't care about what makes him comfortable, but I want this to be over quickly. Don't you? Don't you already know that spell they sent out to all those people?"

"Yes," Ivan said. He knew it definitely wasn't sent to Matthew or anyone in the Williams family. They had just about as much regular magic as Alfred, close to zero.

"If he continues to refuse to do anything, then more people are going to get hurt," Matthew continued. "And I don't want another Dictator walking around like he already is. The way I see it, the only way we can finish this is with you around. I don't care what Arthur has to say about it."

"Fine," Ivan sighed. It wasn't like he was actually missing out on anything. He didn't have anything else to do, either. "If you can get me in there…I'm willing to help." If Ivan could help, then he should. This was a matter of the safety of the world. With another man on the loose with Dark Magic, the world couldn't afford for Ivan to just say no and sulk in his apartment all day.

"Good," Matthew nodded and started walking out of the alleyway. Ivan stuffed his hands into his pockets as he started after him.

Suddenly, the world turned to shades of gray. Matthew's sweatshirt turned a near black, his hair turning gray. The entire street around them turned to gray, the sky and the sun. Not only that, but everything froze in place. Bikes, cars, people, birds. Matthew was frozen with his foot in the air.

Ivan felt something tight and small wrap around his ankle and, before he could even look down, more tight restraints curled around his other ankle and both of his wrists. He wheezed as he felt another one slap around his neck, restricting his breathing.

"I'm curious," a dark, smooth voice said behind him, "with all of you guys looking for me but keeping the only person that can actually fight me locked away, how did you expect to fight me?"

Gilbert? Ivan couldn't move his head with the restraint around his neck, but he didn't have to. Gilbert appeared in front of him out of smoke, his black and red eyes glowing in this black and white world.

"Surprised?" Gilbert smirked.

Hey, look at that, a cliffhanger. Hehehe. Okay, so a couple important things happened in this chapter that I totally didn't expect, but that's cool! If any of you are curious, Matthew was able to find Ivan with a really simple tracking spell. Even Alfred can do it with his regular magic. Also, what is Gilbert doing? This is our first time seeing him in a while, what's he been up to?

So exciting, but we have to wait until next time to find out. See you then!