Ivan and Alfred reached the meeting room first and Alfred was quick to lounge on the nearest chair, propping his feet up on the table. Ivan smiled faintly, sitting down next to him. Alfred was obviously intent on moving past their conversation, putting a smile on his face as he laced his hands behind his head.
"So, what do you think Arthur's first words are gonna be?" Alfred asked. "I'm thinking something along the lines of 'what were you thinking' or maybe even 'are you an idiot'."
"Both are probable," Ivan mused. "Have you thought about 'do you know what you've just done'?"
"Ooh, didn't think about that one." Alfred smirked. "Still banking on the first one, though."
The door opened and both of them looked to see Arthur walk in, barely glancing up at them from his tablet.
"Get your feet off the table," he said simply before walking over to his usual seat. Ivan couldn't help but burst out in laughter with Alfred, who didn't even move to take his feet off the table.
"Why didn't I think of that one?" Alfred asked, holding onto his stomach as he continued to laugh.
"This isn't the time to laugh," Arthur said stiffly and Ivan bit his lip while Alfred just smirked.
"You need to learn how to lighten up," Alfred said.
"You need to learn to share your plans," Arthur said as Francis walked in, chuckling at Alfred sprawled on the table.
"I say if he's relaxed, we can afford to be as well." Francis shrugged.
"I wouldn't say that," Alfred mused, slowly replacing his feet onto the ground. "But there's never a bad time to laugh."
"What…what on Earth were you thinking?" Arthur snapped and Alfred smirked back at Ivan. The door opened again and Ivan turned around to see Matthew walk in, followed by a few other members of the board, who silently went to their own seats.
"I'm still thinking that you won't approve of my plan," Alfred said. "So you're not gonna know what it is. But if you really want to help me out, I can tell you what I need on your end of the deal."
"This isn't a game, Alfred," Arthur stated.
"You think I don't know that?" Alfred scoffed. "I know what I'm doing."
"And for the safety of everyone in this city you need to tell us what that is," a member of the board said coarsely.
"Do you think knowing what I'm doing is going to make anyone really safe?" Alfred asked.
"Nothing you ever do is for anyone's safety," Matthew muttered darkly. Alfred just glared at him.
"This plan is going to work," Alfred said. "It's our only chance, really. And if we want to get anywhere with it, I need some cooperation."
"A plan is useless if only one person knows it," a board member said.
"I thought we decided last time that we weren't going to waste our time like this," Alfred groaned. "As much as I would love to sit around and relive that awesome part of our past, we don't have that time. I don't know Gilbert's sleeping schedule, which means that he could be out there any time, doing anything."
"Sleeping schedule?" Francis asked curiously.
"He took my immortality," Alfred said and the mood in the room seemed to darken, as if everyone was trying to deny that fact until then. "He's got the downside now of having to sleep for twelve hours a day and now he needs a lot of food to keep going. Without that, the immortality is going to eat him from the inside out."
"And what about Ludwig?" another board member asked.
"We'll just have to hope Gilbert's not that far gone," Alfred said.
"So you're saying there's a chance your stupid decision got Ludwig killed?" Matthew asked.
"I'm saying there's a chance my decision is going to save Gilbert and Ludwig," Alfred said pointedly. "What's with you and trying to find a flaw in literally everything I do?"
"That implies that you've done something right once in your life," Matthew said.
Alfred clenched his jaw, but Arthur cut them off.
"Alfred," Arthur said and Alfred looked over at him, grateful for the distraction. "You need to tell us your plan before we risk anymore lives."
"As long as you give me proper backup," Alfred said, "the only life we'll be risking is mine. Which is something I'm sure you're all fine with." Ivan decided not to speak up, despite the fact that he was a clear violation of that assumption.
"How can we be sure about that?" Arthur asked.
"You need to trust me," Alfred said. "Besides, no one else needs to know the plan if no one else is going to fight Gilbert. Unless someone here wants to be on their deathbed."
"Do you think you're any better?" a member of the board asked. "You don't have your immortality anymore."
"What? Do you think it made me go soft?" Alfred scoffed. "You all just assume that I had that immortality for years or something. I've got some news for you, I created it about three months before I was frozen. If anything, I'm more used to fighting without it. On top of that, I have the ability to heal, something regular magic users can't do. So if you want to play around, go ahead, but I'm the only one coming out of it alive if you do."
Everyone in the room was quiet for a short while, letting that fact sink in. Ivan might have gotten used to Alfred's constant presence, but no one else really thought much about how much they were all relying on Alfred. It was already painfully obvious just how much stronger Alfred and Gilbert were than everyone else. It would take 50 strong magic users to freeze Alfred in time again…or to freeze Gilbert, depending on how the situation was going.
"Then what do you need us to do?" Francis asked carefully. All of the other board members were stiff, un-wanting or unwilling to talk about this. Or even negotiate with someone like Alfred.
"Gilbert is going to act when and where he wants to, there's no way for me to find that out," Alfred said, leaning forward. "With him underground, it's almost impossible to figure out where he is. So we have to be careful and ready. He's probably going to try a public place again. Considering the last time he did, I used a lot of my magic to keep people safe, he's going to try relying on that. He's not going to hold back and I don't have the luxury of not spending time on healing anymore. Which means I won't be able to put a lot of effort into protecting people. If anything, I probably won't put any effort in at all. Which means you guys need to be prepared to get people out of any location as fast as possible. Don't try to fight with Gilbert and, no matter what happens, don't try to get in my way. Just get people out and I'll figure out the rest."
"How can we trust you?" Matthew asked.
"We don't have a choice," Alfred said evenly. "The only reason I'm still awake right now is because you guys have to trust me. If you decide you can't and that's too hard for you, go ahead, freeze me." Ivan looked at the table. Alfred's voice broke, trembled slightly at the end. But no one made a move or said a word. "In that case," Alfred said, standing up, "I'm going to continue with my job as bait. As long as I'm still alive, Gilbert has competition. He's going to seek me out and attack. So if you'll excuse me, I have other places to be."
He started for the door and Ivan was immediately on his heels, following him closely behind. Alfred quickly gripped onto Ivan's hand as they walked towards the elevator, his hand shaking. Ivan squeezed his hand reassuringly and Alfred nodded, letting out a sigh. They waited for the elevator in silence, but no one from the meeting room tried to stop them.
"What other places do you have to be?" Ivan asked once they were inside the elevator.
"Places." Alfred smirked. Ivan glared at him and Alfred just shrugged. "Don't worry, it's a part of my plan. These people are gonna be useful."
"People?" Ivan asked.
"You'll see," Alfred said. The elevator opened and Ivan sighed, putting up the cloaking spell once again, but Alfred didn't stop time. Ivan blinked in surprise as they walked outside, seeing the huge amount of press outside, just waiting for something to happen. Alfred walked ahead when Ivan hesitated, making sure they didn't touch anyone to disrupt the spell.
"You do realize that every time you go outside you won't be able to show your face," Ivan offered quietly once they were a fair distance away.
"Not being able to walk around without people recognizing me or wanting to kill me?" Alfred shrugged. "That's something I'm used to."
After an awkward bus ride and walking through the city for a few minutes, they showed up in front of one place that Ivan never expected them to go to.
"You wanted coffee?" Ivan asked as Alfred happily walked inside, letting go of his hand as he walked inside, which dropped the cloaking spell over him. Ivan curiously followed him, stopping the spell completely. The shop was mostly empty, but the only two customers inside were too intent on talking among themselves. Ivan walked close to Alfred, curious.
Yao was at the counter this time and blinked in surprise when he looked at them. Alfred just smiled like before and ordered a coffee. Ivan stared at him in awe. All considering, this was…unnervingly normal.
"Aren't you gonna get anything?" Alfred asked Ivan. "We'll probably be here for a while."
"Um…" Ivan hesitated. "Sure…" He settled for ordering what Alfred had gotten. When Ivan pulled out his wallet, however, Yao just shook his head.
"Don't worry about it," Yao said simply. He didn't even give them a number, just told them to sit down. Ivan looked at Alfred for any kind of explanation, but Alfred just happily moved to a table and sat down, patting the seat beside him happily.
"Explain," Ivan said as he sat beside him.
"It'll be a lot easier in a few minutes," Alfred said. "But they need to close first."
"Why are we here?" Ivan asked. "Are these the people you were talking about?" Ivan had his suspicions about the people in this coffee shop before, but now this felt even stranger than before.
"Yeah," Alfred said. "But just relax. I can trust them, so that means you can, too."
"And why can you trust them?" Ivan asked. "As far as I know, you only met them once for a few minutes."
"A few minutes is all I need," Alfred chimed. "I get pretty quick impressions of people."
"Does this have something to do with Dark Magic?" Ivan asked quietly, making sure the other customers didn't hear him.
"Yup," Alfred said. "But just relax, nothing bad's gonna happen."
Ivan raised a brow curiously, but the girl that had asked him about Alfred before brought them their coffee. She blushed when she made eye contact with Alfred, who just smiled politely at her. She scurried away, all but running into the back.
"Quite the lady killer," Ivan mused.
"Hey, I just used that on you, like, a couple days ago," Alfred pouted. The two other customers got up and Alfred slouched, making sure he was hidden behind Ivan as they left. Shortly after, a group of teenagers walked in, laughing with each other. "Well, that's unlucky." Alfred sighed. Yao directed them to the other side of the room and Alfred nodded to him.
"It was a bit more than a few days," Ivan mused. "Why do you insist on being so mysterious about this?"
Alfred sighed heavily. "It's like a precaution. I can figure out all of Gilbert's movements if I wanted to and it can go two ways. Just in case, I want to make sure we're in a place he can't tell. This has to be a surprise. Just drink your coffee, everything is fine."
"I trust you," Ivan said. "But I expect an explanation."
"Soon as closing time," Alfred promised, happily taking a long drink of his coffee. "Damn, this stuff is so good!"
"And they decided to give us these for free…why?" Ivan asked, drinking just a bit.
"Call 'em fans?" Alfred shrugged and Ivan just stared at him. Alfred laughed, but made sure he stayed quiet. "Don't look at me like that, it's the best explanation I can give for now…Shit…" Alfred looked over at the teenagers, who were taking a special interest in them. When Ivan looked back at Alfred, he noticed Alfred's eyes had gone black.
"What are you doing?" Ivan asked.
"Just a tiny suggestion," Alfred said. "I'm not invading their thoughts or anything. They just…don't think we're here. Problem solved."
"And if this leads Gilbert here?" Ivan pressed.
Alfred blinked and his eyes turned white again. The teenagers were back to laughing among themselves. "If he was awake, he'd be here by now. At least, that's what I'm hoping."
Ivan sighed, drinking some more. It had a strange calming effect, so he was willing to take advantage of that. After maybe twenty more minutes, the group left and Yao was quick to lock the door and place a CLOSED sign on it.
"I have quite a few more questions," Ivan said and Alfred just smiled.
"Sorry if we came at a bad time," Alfred said with a smile, getting up from the chair.
"I can't say we're surprised," Yao huffed. "We were even more surprised when you showed up the first time."
"So where do you guys even go?" Alfred asked. Ivan stood up as well.
"Bring your cups," Yao said, nodding towards the back room as he walked towards it. Alfred didn't even hesitate to do as asked. Ivan sighed, following after him. Surprisingly, no one was even in the back room, it was just an empty, clean area for making coffee. Yao waited for them to put their cups in the sink, most likely to be cleaned later, before he opened up what had looked like a broom closet. Inside, however, was nothing but a hole in the ground.
"That's clever, nicely done," Alfred said. Yao nodded at the compliment before climbing down the ladder, which lead so far down that Ivan couldn't even see the bottom. "After you," Alfred smiled, motioning towards it. Ivan hesitated. "You can trust these guys, I promise. Don't worry about it."
"I am worrying a lot," Ivan said simply.
"Just go," Alfred said.
Ivan carefully started down the ladder, ignoring the massive unease he felt in his stomach as the darkness surrounded him. Before long, he could see a warm glow from below. He looked up at Alfred, who just smiled at him. Ivan shook his head, but soon his feet touched the ground. When he turned around, he could see what looked like a cave, but it was a little homier.
There were some couches, some carpets, along the ground, and on the far end, a couple of beaten-down dummies. Along the walls were small balls of magic that gave enough light to be able to see easily. Littered around were the staff of the coffee shop and Ivan couldn't help but be on edge, especially when he noticed the fact that everyone in the room had deep black auras and black eyes.
Immediately, Ivan took a step back, into Alfred, who just laughed lightly.
"I told you to relax," Alfred offered with a smile, walking ahead of him.
"We didn't expect you to need to talk to us so soon," Kiku said, standing up.
"Yeah, well, I need help," Alfred said.
"Alfred," Ivan said simply, still on edge. Everyone in this…cave was using Dark Magic and, from what Alfred had said, it causes people to lose inhibitions and act violently. Not only that, but Ivan had assumed that not a lot of people used Dark Magic in the first place. Now he could count at least 10 people near his home that used it.
"You don't need to be worried." Alfred smiled. "Dark Magic isn't automatically bad."
"Why did you bring him?" Yao asked curiously. Ivan couldn't help but stiffen where he stood, assuming the worst.
Alfred chuckled. "That whole thing is a really long story."
"As far as I know, we have plenty of time," Kiku said.
"Were you guys able to figure out his sleep cycle?" Alfred asked. "I was passed out for so long afterwards, I don't think my Dark Magic could get it."
"Yeah, you were out of commission for a while." Yao sighed. "Was that really your plan?"
"Yes," Alfred said. "And it's not done, which is exactly why I'm here." Was he asking for help from these people? He'd been so adamant of other people not getting involved, of making sure people wouldn't get hurt. Was this another part of his plan that he didn't want the board to know about? If other people were using Dark Magic, why shouldn't the board know about them?
"You need us?" Yao asked, almost sounding dumbfounded.
Alfred looked back at Ivan and must have seen how concerned he still was because he offered another smile.
"Hey, Ivan, it's okay," Alfred said calmly.
"Maybe we should explain," Kiku offered. "We have time."
"Yeah," Alfred nodded. He looked at Ivan. "You wanna sit down, relax a little?"
"What the hell is going on?" Ivan pressed.
"Okay, so one important thing with Dark Magic, like I told you, is that it's kind of like its own living thing...ish," Alfred explained. "With that, when you invite it in, how much it affects you depends on a few factors. It's like…how much it will physically and mentally affect you. Because those are different things." Ivan's confusion must have also been obvious. "It's a lot to explain, which is why I avoided it. It's not like you're going to use it anyway. But just kind of view it like this. If your brain is compatible with it, you can fight it a lot more, it won't really control you. If your body is physically compatible with it, you can use its magic a lot easier."
Ivan just raised a brow in confusion. He could, more or less, understand, but as far as he knew, everyone had the same reaction to Dark Magic. At least, that was what Alfred let on whenever he'd talked about it before. Then again, not a lot of people wanted to learn about Dark Magic in the first place…
Alfred chuckled. "Take me, for example. Physically, I work really well with Dark Magic. There's really no reason why, it's like with regular magic. Some people are just more compatible with it. Mentally, also, I'm pretty compatible with it, which is why I can pretty much go between using it and not using it."
"Okay," Ivan said slowly.
"In comparison, we've got these guys, who to be honest, are pretty average all considering," Alfred said. Kiku chuckled and Yao pridefully scoffed as he sat with the others. The rest of them, a myriad of ages, just stared at Alfred curiously and happily. Like he was some sort of celebrity to them. The fact that all of them had such massive black auras and could most likely overpower Ivan easily still made him very anxious. "Mentally, they can handle it really well," Alfred continued. "It's just some voice in the back of your head, doesn't matter a whole lot, all that jazz. Physically, their ability to use Dark Magic is kinda low. So it's not the level I can use it. It's like…I don't know, they're still stronger than normal magic." He looked at the others, as if trying to get affirmation. They all nodded thoughtfully.
"And Gilbert?" Ivan asked.
"When he started using it..." Alfred mused. "Well, physically, he's got a lot of compatibility with it. For some reason, mentally, he's not compatible at all. Kind of like he's letting it take over. And, to be honest, when it comes to mental compatibility, that's flexible. Like, even if you start off with low compatibility, you can figure out a way to increase it. That's kinda what happened with me, which is why I get where Gilbert's coming from."
"So your plan for when you snap him out of it is to help him with that?" Ivan asked curiously.
"More or less," Alfred said. "First we have to snap him out of it."
"Which is going to be a lot harder now that you gave him your immortality," Yao said pointedly.
"Maybe that was part of my plan," Alfred offered. "Maybe I'm actually good at tactics and shit."
"What do you need for us to do?" Kiku asked curiously.
"I get how you guys are hesitant to let your names known," Alfred said. "It's still illegal and all that. I don't need you to show your faces or anything like that, I promise. I just need…a little help. Considering he's got my immortality now, I doubt I'll be enough to slow him down enough to be able to take it away again."
"Is that why you let him take it so easily?" Kiku asked.
"I knew he wouldn't just give it away!" a teenage boy nodded happily from where he sat.
"I need to snap him out of it," Alfred said. "And, believe me, the pain of immortality getting ripped from you is more than enough. But what I'll need you guys to do is to just help on the sidelines. Gilbert will notice you, but no one else will. And as long as I keep his main focus, he won't go after any of you guys. In any case, you aren't powerful enough to make him want to attack you yet."
"What's your plan for actually fighting him?" Yao asked.
Alfred sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Before, when I fought him, I had the option to take as much damage as I wanted to. Now he's got that luck, which means that I can't really afford to…think a lot about what I'm about to do."
"You're going to let it take control of you?" Kiku asked, obviously concerned.
"You're going to do what?" Ivan demanded. Alfred shrugged sheepishly.
"I need to even the playing field," Alfred said. "If I hold back trying to make sure people are safe or make sure that it doesn't take control of me, then I'm going to lose. Which is why I need you guys. We need to make sure that neither of us does something we regret."
"You know you can bring Gilbert back to normal," Ivan stated. "But what about you?"
"I've done it before," Alfred offered. "And, I mean, it's not like we have much of a choice. Besides, I'm probably going to be frozen again, no matter what. At least with it in full control, I can escape faster."
"You are very likely to take your immortality back in that condition," Kiku mused. Ivan clenched his jaw. Everyone seemed to take this far too easily, the fact that Alfred could just…lose himself to Dark Magic, without even a fight. And just accepting the fact that Alfred would be frozen again.
"So the goal is to make sure you don't kill anyone," Yao said. "And to make sure we're not seen. When do you even plan on fighting him again?"
"The only problem with that is that Gilbert's gonna do what he wants when he wants," Alfred said. "He's going to attack when he wants to. And there's no way for me to really predict what he's going to do. All I can do is respond. He could try to attack tonight or tomorrow or, hell, next week. I'm just hoping for Ludwig's sake that he attacks sooner. The more time he's alone with him, the higher the chance is that he's killed him."
"That's his brother, right?" Kiku asked. Alfred nodded.
"Who you also let him take?" Yao asked.
"You know, for people that revere The Dictator for his knowledge in Dark Magic," Alfred said, "you seem a little negative."
"No offense," said the girl that had blushed at Alfred earlier, "but when I learned about you in class, I imagined some really muscular man. Probably with a beard or something."
"Well, once I can actually grow facial hair, I'll get back at ya," Alfred said with a slight laugh. "I love hearing about the legends that are told about me."
"When do you think is the most likely time Gilbert is going to attack?" Kiku asked.
"My money's on tomorrow," Alfred said with a heavy sigh. "Do you think you guys can handle that?"
Everyone in the room nodded and Alfred smiled back at Ivan. He just hoped that Alfred knew what he was doing, knew how to handle this like he said he could. He was all confidence and bravado on the outside, but Ivan knew a few things. Knew how much Alfred's voice trembled at the thought of being frozen again, knew that Alfred really was afraid of letting Dark Magic take full control. But Ivan could ask him about it later, hopefully before anything happened.
This chapter took foooorever! But that's because I made bad decisions. Whatever, it's fine, it's done, everything is great. In any case, lots of things happened. This reveal has been a long time in the making and there's a lot of explanation, I just hope it was done as well as I think it was.
And if y'all recall, I did say that being underground makes it impossible to detect Dark Magic, even if you use it. Which is exactly what's going on here. Their little group of Dark Magic Users kind of like practice underground so that they can get used to using it and not using it, etc. And if someone messes up and winds up not being able to control it, they're underground and can't hurt anyone.
Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading, see you next time!