Drat that Arthur! He's going to be late, I just know it! Mint flew back and forth around the room, impatient for her friend and master to wake up. I didn't expect him to be this tired! How many nights has he stayed up now, anyways? The sprite hadn't seen him in days, so she had no idea that Arthur had all but locked himself in the house for nearly half a week, but she did understand the man's erratic sleeping patterns very well. Sometimes he would sleep the night through, but other nights he would hardly sleep at all, preferring instead to hide himself away in his cavern of a basement and to practice his spells until past dawn.

Mint was thoroughly frustrated. Was this big lunk of an idiot every going to wake up? Ug. She couldn't wait any longer or she was going to go mad. She hated being ignored. And besides that, she needed to tell him about the spell he had just cast. Usually she would have popped in right away from Aelia, the kingdom of the Fay, but well, you see, there was this pie eating contest going on, and it was purpleberry pie, so there was no way she could pass that up.

But anyways, back to Arthur! He was taking too long to get up! Darn him! Shame on him for making him wait! She wasn't going to wait any longer, she wanted him up now. Ceasing her incessant flying in circles around the white and blue room, she crossed her arms and pouted. Mint scanned the room, looking for something that would wake him up in a fashion suitable to her. Something caught her eye, and she glided to Arthur's bedside table. Ooh, this would work. This would work quite nicely.

She started fiddling with Arthur's alarm clock. The alarm of which, she happily noticed, just so happened to be currently set to an overly loud heavy metal song.

The first thing that Arthur became conscious of when he first woke up was that it was abnormally light in his bedroom. Drat, had he forgotten to close the shutters when he had closed the window back up? He hated waking up in a non-dark room.

The second thing that he was aware of was that he had gotten a much better night's sleep than he had in a long time. In years, even. All those aches and pains had begun to bother him like they had Yao and Kiku, but right now, he felt simply marvelous.

Most unfortunately, as he opened his bleary eyes, he noticed a third thing. Something that he had expected even less than the first two observations.

His alarm clock was hovering about three feet above his chest, hanging by some unseen force.

Before Arthur could even open his mouth to question to himself just why his alarm clock would be hovering above his person, the invisible force apparently saw fit to release its grip on the clock completely. Gravity took hold and the clock plummeted down hard on his body.

"Bloody—OW!"

He rolled over to his side, limbs reflexively clenching closer to his body from the pain. That bloody hurt! What the heck did that?

He glanced at the clock – it was already 9:00. His blazing emerald eyes then glared around the room, searching for the source of such knavery. He didn't have to look far; the tiny green-hued sprite at fault was still hovering right where his clock had just been hovering, and she was doubled over in laughter. He glowered at her, though she didn't notice in her mirth.

"Mint!" he exclaimed, both in anger and surprise. "What on earth are you doing here? It's been ages since you last came! And what the heck was that for?" He sat up in bed to get a better look at her, the pain in his torso luckily already fading but the scowl still stuck on his face.

"Pfffft, ahahaha!" Mint was obviously still plenty full of laughter. "That look on your face, oh my gosh, that was priceless! I haven't gotten you that good in years! Ha!"

"Darn it Mint! Stop laughing already and answer my questions!" He didn't bother asking how a tiny creature like her was able to lift the much larger alarm clock. She may have been only as big as his pointer finger – or maybe his middle finger would be a more apt frame of reference – but as a magical creature, not to mention a magical creature high up in the Fairy Court, her abilities were incredible.

"Ha ha ha…" The laughter slowly faded, though the maniacal grin never left her face for a second. "Well, you wouldn't wake up on your own, so I had to do something… It was so boring just waiting around here for you!"

"Waiting around…" His scowl deepened, though it somehow turned more thoughtful at the same time. "How long have you been here for?"

"Mm… Probably around ten hours or so. Can't you see why I wanted you to get up?"

"T-ten hours?" Arthur exclaimed, amazed. No wonder he had felt so refreshed when he woke up, he had slept about three more hours than he ever did. "Why on earth did I sleep so long?" he asked, more to himself than to Mint.

"Well duh, you kinda just cast a transdimensional spell, you of all people should know that those just sap the energy right outta you."

And he did know, of course he did, since he had visited Aelia many times to meet with the Fay queen, Galen. He had always taken at least a few hours to be fully revitalized. But wait, hadn't that spell from the night before not worked? After all, he could not find anything really that had changed.

When he said as much to Mint, she clapped her hands together and giggled like a schoolgirl. A deranged schoolgirl. "That means you haven't noticed yet? Ha, and I was afraid I would miss your reaction!" Still giggling, she started pulling on Arthur's pajama sleeve, trying to get him out of his bed.

"Mint, what on earth are you talking about? So the spell did work then?" Arthur was confused. If the spell had succeeded after all, then that was great, but they way the sprite kept going on worried him. Had he only been mostly successful but blotched some important part of it?

His anxiety only made her giggle more and pull on his sleeve harder. Goodness, for such a little thing, she certainly was amazingly strong. Sighing, he decided that he had better follow Mint. For one thing, he knew from past experience that when she wanted something, she would not stop annoying his until he gave in. However, he was curious as to just what she was talking about. For his own sanity, he hoped that it was not anything as bad as she was unknowingly making it out to be.

"Alright, alright. Where is it that you want me to go so desperately?"

Without letting go of Arthur's sleeve, Mint still somehow managed to do a fist pump in a small celebration for getting her way so quickly. The Brit was usually so much more stubborn. "C'mon, to the washroom!"

"The washroom?" he asked, confused. What could possibly be in there that was so special?

"You'll see, I'm telling you, so hurry up!" The sprite had clearly been waiting just for this. Arthur supposed that he was lucky that she had not woken him up much earlier.

After throwing on his bathrobe (it was cold in the house, even though he had kept the windows closed for the night), he walked with his noisy Fay friend down the hallway to the washroom. Well, in Mint's opinion, she was dragging him, but she was not quite strong enough to manage something like that.

As they walked through the washroom doorway, Arthur half-expected to see some sort of gruesome scene, judging by Mint's excitement and her strange sense of morbidity. But no, the scene before him was completely normal, just the same washroom that he saw all the time.

He turned to the sprite. "I cannot see what—"

"The mirror, the mirror! Look in the mirror!"

He glanced at the mirror, but did not see anything particularly different about it, either. "Mint, I don't see…"

Wait a second. He looked back at the mirror, staring at the figure shown in it. And studied it. And stared some more. It couldn't be…

Mint flew up above Arthur and nestled in his hair. Her mirror reflection did the same to that figure in the mirror. That proved it then, that the figure in the mirror was indeed himself, but what on earth did that spell do to him?

Arthur desperately needed some tea. And he needed it now. But since he was still a proper British gentleman, he calmly walked down the hallway and down the stairs instead of dashing like he was sorely tempted to do. Mint was still lying in his hair; it was her favorite place to be when she was hitching a ride on the man.

As the Brit put the water on to boil and began sorting through his large tea collection to decide which tea to brew, his hands began to shake slightly in nervousness. He certainly had not expected this outcome of the spell, even if it had been a transdimensional spell. He almost felt that he would rather the spell doing some sort of true transformative magic, because that he knew he could easily fix with another spell. But this?

He was a bloody teenager.

Age spells were some of the trickiest of all the magics. Even Arthur did not mess with them, because if you messed up even the smallest amount, the results could be catastrophic. He had seen the results: men who were trying to obtain immortality had been turned into mewling babes who had only gotten younger and younger as time went on; youngling magicians with hopes of attaining wisdom with a shortcut to old age found themselves to suddenly become piles of ash and bones. Yes, age spells were the spells that any wizard with enough common sense would stay from is at all possible. And yet Arthur had just cast on upon himself.

Well, not quite. His age had obviously changed; nobody was going to argue that. But he himself had not directly cast that magic. The spell that he had cast actually had some intelligence of its own, intelligence derived from the flow of pure magic flowing though every living being, and for whatever reason, it had decided to change Arthur as it deposited him in this alternate universe. Alternate universe it was, because even though everything had the same appearance (save for Arthur, of course), the differences came from the people themselves and all the choices that they may have made that were slightly different than their counterparts in any other universe.

At least, this all was what Mint was explaining about the situation while Arthur finished making his tea and began to drink it. Ah, even if it was far too early in the day to properly have tea, he never could go wrong with some good Darjeeling. It was his beverage of choice when he was feeling stressed. And he had not felt this stressed for a long, long time.

Blast it all, why had he just rushed blindly into the spell like that? It was abnormal for Arthur to not take the utmost precautions before attempting a new spell. He should have consulted Mint beforehand, at least! She certainly seemed to know an awful lot about the details and hidden workings of this world he had stupidly hurled himself into. Then again, he thought, staring over the rim of his teacup at the little green sprite, she certainly seems pleased that I ended up in this mess, so she probably would not have told me everything regardless. Like most of the Fay, Mint loved trickery, and in her case especially when it involved Arthur.

"So what do I do to reverse this spell?" Arthur asked, sounding calmer than he felt. All spells had ways to undo them, although some were harder than others, and a handful were practically impossible to reverse, even if it was possible. He hoped this one was not one of the latter. Again he cursed himself for so stupidly rushing like that.

"Oh, you can't, not really."

"…what?"

"This spell involves time. And it's so complexly woven that the best thing to do is just wait for the magic to end. This isn't a permanent magic, after all."

Arthur carefully set down his tea cup onto its saucer with barely a clink, then held his head in his hands. He had to wait? That would not be good. The Brit was terribly impatient when it came to magic. When he was much younger, this impatience had led to many and explosion or something else going horribly wrong because he had rushed. With age, he had gotten better, but when he had no control over the situation, like now, the stress rapidly built up and he wanted results quickly.

"Surely there is some way to reverse this. All magic can be undone, that's one of the Laws of Merlin!"

Mint chewed on her lower lip. "Well, yeah. But it's really really hard."

Arthur sighed. "Just tell me, Mint, please."

"Um, well, you know all those runes that you had to draw before? You have to draw them all again, in exactly the same spot, but reversed."

"Reversed in what way, if they must be in the exact same spot?"

"Reversed colors. The runes that were poured out by tinctures before have to be drawn out with chalk, and the chalk runes made with the tinctures, with the colors going in the same pattern as before."

"That does not sound particularly difficult, besides lining things up correctly. There certainly were a massive number of runes, but it can be done again. I have the materials." Arthur was already calculating in his head the amount of the tinctures he would need to replace the chalk.

Mint coughed delicately, slightly flustered. "Er, that isn't exactly all of it," she admitted. She hadn't exactly wanted to mention this; she had hoped in vain that Arthur would simply concede defeat at the hand of his own spell and not clung to any hope that might bring him back home sooner. "If you go this way, then there wouldn't be all that much you can do to fix your age."

Arthur looked up and blinked, surprised. The sprite had been laughing about his change in age since he had gotten up, but now she was dead serious. She is worried about me after all, he thought. And she had a good point, besides that. Master magician though he may be, he was not willing to even attempt casting an age spell on himself. Or anyone else, really. The risks were far greater than the pros.

Oh yes, and there was another thing that he was overlooking. "I suppose you are right, Mint. Though come to think of it, I would not be able replicate all of the runes after all. The spell disappeared from the Book as soon as I finished casting it."

"WHAT?"

Arthur was more than a little surprised at the sprite's reaction. Rarely had he seen her so upset over something, the little thing seemed to be stuck in her happy-go-lucky most of the time. "Mint?" he said cautiously, not wanted to make her even angrier. "Is something wrong with that?"

His caution was wasted. "A spell disappeared from the Book," she said, seething. "Why are you not more upset?"

Poor Arthur was terribly confused. "Er, when I assumed that I had mixed up the spell, I thought that one of the Fay could have possible been angry and not wanted to let me have a second try?"

Mint shook her head in exasperation. He didn't really blame her; now that his head was no longer as sleep-deprived, the idea sounded quite childish to him as well.

"Arthur, have you truly gone insane? The Book is practically our source of life, it has all our spells and history in it! You're the Keeper, you of all people ought to know how important it is! By Galen, Arthur! Why would we purposefully eradicate our own magic?"

The Brit hung his head in shame. "I… I'm sorry Mint, I really am," he said softly.

Mint was surprised. Sure she had just yelled at him for being a blatant idiot, but she hadn't actually expected the man to apologize. She'd just assumed that he would be the pigheaded dope he always was and argue back just as strongly that it wasn't his fault, that he was tired or didn't know all the inner workings of the Fay or whatever else. There really wasn't any good argument he could give, of course, but she hadn't expected him to just give in so easily. Was he more frightened by this situation than she had thought at first? He was usually so strong, she figured that he would adapt and find the bright side without batting an eye, though outwardly complaining all along the way. But this was something entirely new, something neither of them had expected.

The sprite glided over to Arthur's left shoulder, putting a hand on him to offer at least a small amount of comfort. He looked over at her. "Thanks, Mint," he whispered, lips forming a small yet sad and frightened smile.

However, Mint wasn't the type to comfort people for too long; she just wasn't made to handle too much mushy stuff. She pushed off his shoulder and fluttered to right in front of his face. "C'mon, Arthur! It'll be fine! When the spell ends, everything gets turned back to the same way it was! It'll be like nothing ever happened!"

Arthur frowned, and their conversation resumed in the manner it had been in before. "Yes, but how long of a wait are you talking about? A week, a month?"

"Er…"

"Mint, stop cutting corners," he snapped.

"Alright, alright. Um…a year, maybe?"

Arthur's jaw dropped. A whole bloody year? This was insane! How was he supposed to manage in an unfamiliar environment when he was…changed the way he was? Teenagers could hardly do anything in society! "Mint," he said through gritted teeth, "just what do you expect me to do as a teenager for a whole bloody year?"

The sprite quailed under the Brit's threatening glare, though she knew that his anger was not directed towards her, but towards his situation. "I-I don't know," she admitted. She had no clue what to do, even though she was usually the one who was quick to find the silver lining in a situation that any sane person would consider depressing. It was a wonderful quirk that helped to balance out the grumpy Brit's sullen attitude towards nearly everything. But now, she was at a loss, and at the time when her friend needed her the most, too. She felt useless.

The sprite slowly drifted down to the table where she sat with her legs hanging off the edge, and Arthur quietly excused himself to go make another cup of tea. She bent her head down until it nearly touched her knees, and she rubbed at her temples, her face slightly scrunched in concentration. To some it may have looked like she was trying to get rid of a headache, but it was really just the way she acted when she needed to concentrate on something big. And she called this situation big. What was there for him to do, really, until the spell unraveled itself?

"Mint?"

The tiny sprite jumped. She had been so lost in thought that when Arthur returned to the table, she hadn't even noticed the man, but there he was, sitting in his chair as if he had never even left, except for the fresh cup of tea that he was holding in one hand.

Arthur coughed into the hand that wasn't holding his tea, slightly embarrassed at having startled his friend. "I was just wondering, why is it that you are here with me? Were you somehow caught up in this spell as well?" The Brit was worried that he had horribly inconvenienced the sprite with his own foolish spells.

"Oh no, not at all!" Mint exclaimed, sensing the reason behind Arthur's question. "I'm one of the Fay, it only stands to reason that I'd be able to cross between the dimensions."

Understanding and relief filled Arthur's eyes, as well as an avid curiosity. "So you can cross over into this world the same way that you cross between my world and Aelia?" he asked before taking a sip of his tea and setting the cup down.

"Not exactly. It's rather hard to explain to humans…" Mint scratched the back of her head as she tried to find the right words to explain the phenomenon. "To go between our two worlds, it's like I just have to step forward into the right place at the right time, and I'm there. To get to this world is like stepping backwards and sideways with both feet at the same time, and it's harder to find the right synchronization. Your world and mine are very close, which is why you see us all the time over there. But to get here, it's just not worth the effort when there are much more interesting places to explore in your world."

"Ah," Arthur said simply, nodding; the sprite's explanation apparently made perfect sense to him. "So what you are saying is, there will not be as many of the Fay in this world?"

"Hardly any, actually."

Arthur leaned back in his chair. "It's a relief that you are not stuck in this world as I am. Aren't you taking classes at the university right now? You do need to keep up your studies you know," he said with a slight frown, though the relief stayed in his eyes.

"Yes, I suppose. It's not like they're that important though, you're the one who needs me here right now."

Wait a minute. University… School…

Arthur let out a soft laugh into the teacup that he had picked back up and was lifting to his lips. "Your education is important, Mint. You ought to take it more seriously."

"That's true… But what about you?" the sprite asked, a devilish look creeping into her light brown eyes again. Oh, this would work out perfectly.

The slightly amused look remained on Arthur's face. "What do you mean? I'm a grown man, and I finished all the education that I needed several centuries ago."

"You don't look like a grown man to me right now." The devilish glint in her eyes spread throughout her face to form a devilish smile. In fact, the sprite's entire tiny frame was just oozing with her true trickster's spirit.

"Mint, what are you-" Arthur sputtered. "You cannot be—You must be joking! I am several centuries old! Just because I look like…like this right now does not mean that I am truly this age!"

"Hey, you're the one who said you didn't know what to do as a teenager for a whole year! And it's perfect timing, too."

"No! I absolutely refuse! It would be ridiculous!"

"Arthur…" Mint sighed. He didn't really get it. "It's not like you can just stay inside this house for an entire year. You'll need food, for one thing." Honestly, even when he didn't have the appearance of a teenager, the Brit could be so childish.

"But school? Me, the personification of the entirety of England, going to a common high school? I would look ridiculous!"

"You know," Mint said softly, "this spell doesn't bring you to a completely different place from your true world. The people you knew in that world will almost definitely appear in this world as well. Including Alfred. Wasn't that pretty much why you cast this spell in the first place?"

Arthur froze. "H-how did you know that?"

"I'm smarter than you give me credit for, Arthur." Her eyes narrowed. "I would say that it's fairly obvious that you've been upset about your fractured relationship ever since the war. Isn't that why you cast the spell? To start again?"

She certainly was perceptive, Arthur had to give her that. He had worked hard to make sure that his inner fragility was never seen by anybody, human or Fay. But this tiny little sprite had seen past the layers upon layers of steel that he had hammered down over his own heart.

"Darn it, Mint," Arthur muttered, running his fingers backward through his hair. "Fine. You win. Happy?"

"Extremely so," she replied, grinning smugly. She was very happy indeed. This was going to be fun.

Oh wow, second chapter already! I was close to finishing this today, so I just decided to get it completely done. Aaand then it ended up being almost a thousand words longer than I thought it'd be. But hey, it's finished! It has minimal editing again, though. Since I'm writing this for NaNoWriMo, I'm just going to try and crank these chapters out as fast as I can, so expect a new chapter every few days or so, unless I sadly get very far behind. But right now I'm ahead of schedule! Ahaha!

Oh yeah, and can you tell how evil I am? I love suspence so much. And now you have to wait until next chapter before the plot actually gets going, too. It was going to start this chapter, but it got so long that I decided to split it here.

Another thing, in case you can't tell, yes, I got the idea of Mint from the Flying Mint Bunny. However, Mint is not a flying bunny, but a sprite. Yes, there is a difference. And I'm curious, can anybody guess what fictional character I slightly based her personality on?

…so yeah. Once again, reviews are greatly loved, since I'm still a rather novice author.