"Yes and there are a few things I would like to ask about..."
England leaned backwards in his chair; took his tea cup and smiled to America to continue to talk.
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America started with telling England all about Rowan and his family. He had a vague memory of already telling England about these things, or at least that he already knew about it.
He went on by telling him about the journey in the woods, another thing he was sure that England already knew. Then he told England about all that he had done to him as a kid; starting with the eyes in the bushes, which soon turned out to be rabbits, and when he tripped and Rowans creepy story about him and finally the meeting with him. England didn't say a word the whole time.
Instead he just sat there, drinking his tea and looking at Alfred with a know-it-all expression on his face.
"Yes I know that you mention it, I can recall those days" England said like it was the most natural thing in the world. Hello, they were talking about time traveling. Well, England was probably talking of something that Alfred had just told him, but that was a lot of stuff.
"Why didn't you tell me about you?"
"Tell you what?"
"That you were a child. If anything I wasn't prepared on that!"
"Well" England said looking for something in his pockets "I thought it was kind of obvious. I mean you have gone back in time; of course I'll be younger when you meet me. You don't grow younger with time, you know."
"I know that!" England just smiled at him.
After England had found whatever that he was looking for, he just sat still again staring at Alfred. Alfred was staring at the dirty tea cup.
"Why have I not come back yet?"
"I am not sure about that, you'll have to ask Loreen."
Oh great, he was sent out on a mission to find a fairy.
"Don't be like that Alfred." England said. Alfred. Where they on first name bases again? Sweet! "She isn't that hard to find. Just make sure that you are alone in the right place and call out for her."
"And where exactly will I find this place, huh? I'm pretty tired of wondering around in a time where no one knows I exist!"
"People don't know that here either. Except the governments."
"I mean people like you. Like us"
"America" why keep bothering calling him Alfred if he just keeps changing his mind? "what is bothering you?"
"What? How I will get back of course"
"I do not think that you have anything to do with that." England said. "If anything Loreen decade when it's time for you to come back, but knowing her she probably don't know how to take you back either, so you'll just have to wait."
"WHAT? She doesn't KNOW? WHAT KIND OF FAIRY IS THAT?"
"You don't have to yell, I can hear you. How long have you been there anyway?"
"I don't know, a week maybe."
"Then you should be able to come back soon." England said and finished his tea.
"So I don't have to find Loreen?" Oh, you lovely thought!
"Well if you want to come back you should find her, but you don't have too. But it will probably go faster if you did find her."
Damn! Stupid fairy, she probably wouldn't remember him anyway. It would be nice to come back though, and not just in dreams. One can't shower in dreams, and hell he needed one.
"You'll find the fairy, just call her. Good bye Alfred."
Heh, yeah right...
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When Alfred woke the both brothers were still snoring. Loudly.
Stupid fairy for just wanting to play with him. If she had to send him back in time, couldn't she at least have a purpose for him here?
Alfred, rather clumsily, crawled away from the sleeping duo. It was still dark out, and he didn't feel like searching for this fairy now. England's forest was creepy in daylight, okay?
"Mr. Alfred, hey psst, Mr. Alfred" he heard a low voice whisper. "Mr. Alfred, can you hear me?"
Alfred turned around, nothing there. And nothing over there, or there, or way over there. Suddenly everything was too quiet.
"Why are you dancing?" Kid-Arthur said.
"I'm not dancing."
"well, you were."
"No I wasn't"
"Yes."
"Heh. No"
"Yes."
"Anyhow... you don't know a fairy called Loreen by any chance, do you?" Present time here he comes!
"Yeah, why? You wanna meet her?" Awesome!
"Yeah sure, take me too her!"
Go looking in the woods alone for a fairy, yeah right.
"I'd love to meet her" in the corner of his eyes he could see either Rowan or Henry (he wasn't sure which one of them) move slightly in their sleep. "But I can't just leave, I have to say good bye to them first." He continued nodding at the brothers. Kid-Arthur looked over at them.
"Oh" he seemed less happy now. Good job, Alfred, making a kid miserably, Alfred thought.
"I'll see you later then. Don't go anywhere" Kid-Arthur said before he disappeared.
Alfred looked over at the sleeping duo again. But this time, he saw one of them (who turned out to be Henry) move to a sitting position and then got up, stretching.
"Morning." Alfred said loud enough for Henry to hear but low enough to not wake Rowan up.
"Morning, what's your plan for today?" Henry asked, now the morning after he had come to term with the fact that he didn't really want something else than to leave the forest now, but couldn't because of Rowan.
"We're gonna have to split up" Alfred said not liking how it sounded; he was going to miss that kid. Stupid fairy, it's all her fault. Henry just looked at him like he had said something utterly stupid, but then just shrugged it off him.
"Where will you go?"he asked, rubbing his eyes and yawned.
"Oh, I guess I'll find my way somehow" imagines of Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland flew across his mind with red queen screaming that all ways are hers. Besides Kid-Arthur, he got to come up with a better name for him, will help him find the fairy.
Oh my god this time is so boring, Alfred thought as he waved good bye to Rowan, who was waving way too happily, and Henry. A nice farmer's family, trees, trees and more trees, and rabbits and little England, was that really all there was? It's a miracle people of this age haven't died of boredom.
And now he had to sit here waiting for Kid-Arthur to show up.
"I don't know where she is." America almost jumped three meters up into air and let out a, very manly, shriek. Kid-Arthur just looked at curiosity.
"Who?"
"Loreen, but I asked around and she will come look for me when she has time." Well isn't that typical.
"Great, what am I supposed to do now?" Alfred said, mostly to himself.
"You can come home with me." Kid-Arthur said. America looked at him. In those green eyes he could see an older version of him, reaching out his hand to a little boy, saying those exact words with happiness in his eyes. But he could also another version off him, dried tears on his cheek, wearing a green uniform, reaching out his hand to a boy, who once had been the reason for those tears, saying "You can't sit there, git. Get up."
The little one in front of him sure was Arthur.
"Where do you live then?"
"In a stone-home" Kid-Arthur said pointing in one direction; Alfred didn't bother to look since all he could see was trees. Wait, stone-home? What kind of person says stone-home?
"Come on" Kid-Arthur said as he started dragging Alfred with him.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to meet your brother?"
"You're not. They don't live in my stone-home, they have their own. But I can stay with them for as long as I like."
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Alfred's feet hurt. They really hurt. It wasn't like he wasn't used to walking, he was. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy walking anymore, he just didn't find as time-saving as going somewhere with a car was.
Kid-Arthur on the other hand seemed just fine. So Alfred was probably the only one with hurting feet. And guess what, he and the little one was having a rather nice trip through the forest, even though Alfred tripped now and then Kid-Arthur never did. He didn't talk as much as Rowan either, in fact before they started walking he said something about keeping quiet to not scare the animals.
"We're almost there" Kid-Arthur said after they had walk for about six hours, and gone by horse for two. Damn, riding those horses took Alfred back to the free wildlife of a cowboy, and he didn't even need a lasso since Kid-Arthur seemed to know how to approach horses without scaring them. "If you continue that way" he continued and pointed north. "you'll get to the ocean. I like the ocean. It's big and blue and you can't really tell which mood it's in."
"And that's good?" Alfred took a quick look at the sky. For him, ultimate freedom was the sky, and there was no better feeling than flying. Even if one couldn't fly without an airplane.
He never did understand England attraction to the water, he had just dismissed it as the old way of traveling and since England was, well, old, it suited him. Another thing that he didn't like about the ocean was that it kept Arthur away from him so much when he was a child. It separated them, and sometimes he could be so mad at Arthur for realizing that.
"Here we are." Kid-Arthur said and stopped. Alfred mouth fell open.
Hope you had fun.
I don't think we will be seeing so much more of Rowan and his family. instead we are going to vivit Arthur Stone-home, get guests from the noth, and the main land :P