People, when leaving a place that has meaning to them, can often have a feeling of sadness. Not a usual kind of sadness either. It is often too sorrowful to even express because at times it is mixed with happiness too. And so the person feels almost torn in two. Sadness and happiness wanting to take control but neither are able to because there is only so much room for an emotion to fill. An almost disturbing feeling can take over.
So was the case with you. After the tingling in your body had subsided you knew you were back home and although you were so happy to be back, you were also very sad to have left one of the greatest adventures in your entire life, as well as the people you had made friends with. You slowly opened your eyes to see the familiarities of Alfred's basement. Food wrappers and crushed soda cans littered the floor. Just as you left it. It brought a smile to your sad lips to see something familiar.
"Alfred?" you asked, looking around the dark room. It was nightfall after all, possibly early in the morning. You looked around the room as best as you could.
"Alfred?" you called again, stepping off the transportation pad and onto the soft carpet below, taking a few steps away from the time contraption. You would be sure from now on to be careful around it so as not to have another little 'mishap'. You wandered over to the light switch on the other wall near the stairs. You stuck your arm out, hand feeling all over the wall until it finally brushed against the switch, flicking it upward to illuminate the dark room.
Soon the room was lit up and you were able to get a better look around. Your face softened and an excited feeling filled your chest when you found Alfred asleep on one of the couches, glasses pushed slightly askew from his fist.
'He must have fallen asleep waiting for me.' you thought as you quietly but quickly approached your best friend, reaching out and gently shaking his shoulder.
"Alfred?" you said gently, you didn't want to shock him too much when he woke up. He stirred in his sleep, squinting a bit as his eyes slowly opened.
"Hm?" he mumbled as his vision started to clear from his slumber, blinking a bit to focus his vision better. You smiled at him as he started to wake up some more.
"Hey bud. Long time no see-gah!" you began to say but were thoroughly interrupted by Alfred springing up and glomping you with a bear crushing hug, more so then Gilbert had done to you before. You literally could not breath.
"(NAME)! YOU BACK! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH DUDE!" He said in excitement as he nuzzled your head, picking you up off your feet and pulling you higher and higher off the ground.
"You have no idea how much I've missed you!!!" he said in an almost whiny voice, putting so much pressure on your back that he managed to pop a few vertebrae back into place. You felt like your eyes were going to pop out of your face any moment now. You tapped frantically on his shoulder to catch his attention. He pulled his face away a little bit and looked at you.
"What?" he asked.
"Air!" you wheezed out weakly from the lack of oxygen.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, loosening his grip and gently setting you back on the ground. You coughed and gasped for air a bit as Alfred rubbed your back to help the process.
"Heh heh…sorry about that. I was just so happy to see you (Name)!" he said, feeling a bit sheepish by his actions. You shook your head and looked up at him.
"No. I missed you a lot, too." you said as you hugging him back, thought your grip was much less…crushing. He too hugged you back, also more gently as well.
"I'm just so glad your safe (Name)…I was so worried about you the whole time you were away." he said softly, gripping onto your hoodie a bit. You smiled and pulled away from him.
"I know…and thanks." you said. He returned your smile for a moment before he had a surprised look on his face, like he had remembered something.
"Oh! That reminds me!" he said, leaving your side and walking over to the basement fridge.
"What is it?" you asked, watching as he pulled open the fridge door and taking a step aside, giving you the chance to see what it contained. You were surprised to find a lot of chocolate items in there.
"Alfred? What's all this?" you asked as you walked toward him, keeping your eyes on the refrigerator. He laughed his signature laugh at your expression.
"Dude. I promised you that when you came back we'd pig out on all things chocolate!" he said with the biggest smile on his face you had seen in a whole month. You couldn't help but smile at your friend's kind gesture.
"You remembered that?" you asked, picking up a yoohoo carton from the fridge door.
"Sure did! Now lets pig out and you can tell me all the cool stuff that happened to you!" he said as he pulled a chocolate ice cream carton from the freezer. You gave him a half smile. You weren't really sure you wanted to tell him everything. But then again…he was really the only person you trusted with personal information. So with a sigh and a smile on your face you nodded and followed him to the coffee table, sitting down on the couch and shoving the plastic straw in the carton, taking a sip of the chocolate drink.
"Okay…where do I begin?" you said as Alfred sat down, already shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, a spoonful that was much bigger then his own mouth.
"Why don't you start from the beginning." he said with a mouthful of Ben and Jerry's. You laughed as chocolate ice cream started to run down his chin.
"Right. Okay so when I first arrived I decided to check out the area…"
And so you and Alfred spent the rest of the early morning hours talking and eating chocolate items. Four hours later and many ice cream containers, yooohoo cartons, chocolate wrappers and hoho's later you had told him everything that had happened while you were in the past. You told him about scaring the crew, about embarrassing the Captain with your feminine issues, almost getting into a fight with one of the pirates, getting Ian and Gibbons back together, almost drowning, getting kidnapped and narrowly escaping death. You also told him about Arthur and Peter. Mostly about Arthur. You had shown Alfred the picture of Arthur you had taken when you were trying to explain to him what a phone was.
"So this is the guy that threatened me?" Alfred asked, looking at the picture of Arthur a little closely before looking at you. You just nodded with a sad look on your face. Alfred looked down at your phone again, which was being charged at the moment being that it was completely dead by the time you pulled it out again. There was a moment of silence between you and Alfred for a while before he spoke again.
'You like him-" he said, looking up at you. "-don't you?"
You looked at your hands, not meeting Alfred's eyes. You didn't want to admit to something like that out loud, especially not to Alfred. But Alfred was able to read you like a book.
"(Name) I-"
"It doesn't even matter…There all gone and dead now anyways so what difference does it make?" you said, still looking down at your hands. Alfred placed your phone down on the coffee table and placed a hand on your shoulder.
"You know…that's one of the hard parts about time travel…making good friendships that you have to break eventually." he said, trying to comfort you in someway. You chewed on your bottom lip a bit, still unable to look Alfred in the eye.
"I'm sorry (Name)…really I am. I can't even imagine what that would feel like." he said. You sighed a little and looked up at Alfred, sadness clearly in your eyes but you smiled regardless.
"I know Alfred…but thank you for being such a good friend." you said, reaching over and pulling him into a hug as you rested your head on his shoulder. He returned your hug and rocked you back and forth gently. You both stayed like that for a while, neither of you saying a word to each other. Finally Alfred looked over at your phone to check the time.
"It's almost 4:30." he said quietly, pulling away from you. "I think we'd better get some shut eye." You took in a deep breath and nodded, standing up and stretching a bit.
Alfred had drove you home so you could sleep in your own bed for once. Once you hugged him goodbye and promised to come over again when you woke up next, you immediately stalked over to your room and collapsed on your bed, half hoping and half wishing that when you woke up that you would find yourself on Arthur's ship again.
But alas that did not happen. You awoke at one in the afternoon to find yourself in your room, in your bed and snuggled under your warm covers with a slight stomach ache from all the chocolate you had eaten only a few hours before. Still in your clothing though, you had been far too exhausted to change out of them. You sighed in slight disappointment. You lifted your hand to your chest to feel for your necklace. It was not there.
"It wasn't a dream…" you mumbled softly to yourself as reality checked in. You slowly sat up in bed and rubbed your eyes, looking around your room a bit. Nothing had changed since you had left. But you had changed. You didn't feel the same here anymore, not like you had before you met Arthur.
Arthur.
Just the thought of him made your heart feel stabbed all over with many pains. You wondered if he ever thought of you after you left or if he soon forgot about you. You would have liked to feel like he was thinking about you right now but…you knew…he was and had been dead for quite some time now. This realization caused a wetness in your eyes as a stray tear slid down your face.
"This isn't fair." you whispered as you closed your eyes and allowed a cascade of tears to fall from them.
You had made good on your promise and went right to Alfred's house after you woke up and stopped the water works. But you were not as full of life as you would usually be. Alfred caught onto this immediately. He tried everything he could to make you peppier. He made jokes, funny faces, played video games with you, dragged you to the park, took you to the movies.
Nothing.
You weren't a complete lump about it, you got into it a bit but not as much as you would have. This had gone on for quite a few months. You didn't take as much joy in the things you once did anymore. Mostly because so many things reminded you of Arthur or Ian or Peter. Which would remind you of how they were no longer living. You would remember this at night and end up crying yourself to sleep. You were starting to almost second guess not staying with Arthur and the crew.
'Come on (Name). Where would you live? It wouldn't have worked out.' you would tell yourself as you sipped on a cup of tea, which also reminded you of Arthur. Needless to say you sipped very slowly and sadly as you watched Pirated of the Caribbean, finding little things here and there that weren't correct from your experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You woke up one morning and just sat on your bed, staring out the window. Thinking about different things. That is, until a question popped into your head that ate away at your curiosity. You wanted to question this for a while now, just to see if by chance Arthur had made it into the history books by something he had done. You also were curious as to what he did with his life after you left. Like what happened to Cruz, what happened to the crew, what happened to Arthur. If he got married…
You decided to not think of all the possibilities because some of your thoughts were depressing and slightly irritating. So you waltzed over to your lap top and sat down at your desk, reminiscing on all the times you had spent talking with Arthur at his own desk. Though his was much grander then your black metal desk. You chuckled at the thought of Arthur's reaction to a lap top. You clicked on the search engine and looked up:
Captain Arthur Kirkland
With a tap on your sensor pad you waited patiently for the search engine to do its thing and give you the information you were curious about. Finally your search was completed and you were surprised to find quite a bit of information under your search. So, clicking the first link that looked interesting, you scanned the page and its contents.
'Captain Arthur G. Kirkland, son of Arthur W. Kirkland, born in the year 1734 was known throughout the seas as a young but ferocious Captain, with a temper that would make any sailor quake with fear.'
"Yup. Sounds like him alright." you said out loud as you chuckled at the information a bit.
'Known for his skilled tactics in seizing ships, he was the first man to capture the ruthless Cuban Captain Ricardo Cruz. Transporting him back to London where he was tried, convicted and eventually sentenced to death by hanging.'
You grimaced a bit at the image in your head of Cruz hanging with a rope around his neck. Usually when someone reads about such things in history books it does not affect them very much. But being that you had personally met the man and had conflicts with him made you feel a bit…queasy.
'Rewarded for his act of valor, Captain Kirkland retired from his occupation as captain and resided in London as a commanding officer for the British navy where he then was tried and convicted for former piracy four months later.'
Your eyes widened a bit at what you had just read.
"C-Convicted? But that means-"
You stopped yourself from finishing your sentence. You couldn't finish it. You just couldn't. Instead you continued to read on.
'On the night before his execution he suddenly disappeared and was never found or heard from again.'
"H-He disappeared?!" you said out loud, shock lacing your voice as you continued to read on.
'Rumors began to spread about his disappearance but no final concluding evidence was ever found. Some say that he returned secretly to the ocean he had spent so much time on and returned to his life of piracy. Others say that he fled to a small town and lived the rest of his life as a merchant. Historians have yet to find an answer.'
You sat back slowly in your black swivel office chair and thought about what you had just read for a moment, all the information rolling around in your head.
'He just…disappeared? That makes no sense….what happened to him?' you thought, pondering what could have happened to your good friend. Though you were slightly relieved to find no mention of him marrying you were still disturbed by his sudden disappearance.
"I hope nothing bad happened to him!" you said, panic starting to swell in your chest You looked back up at the lap top screen and read something that brought a smile to your face and a slight chuckle to your mouth.
'As well as being known for his commandeering skills he was also the influential figure in naming the Florida keys, as they are known today.'
"Son of a gun…I guess I changed history a bit." you said, rubbing the back of your neck. You chuckled as you remembered the conversation you had with Arthur and his map misconception. You had no idea that he would take credit in naming that set of islands. How did he manage that anyways?!?
You shook your head and got up from your chair, still slightly disturbed by the information you just fed yourself.
"What happened to him?" you said quietly to yourself, resting a hand on your shoulder as you thought about it for a moment. It reminded you of all the CSI episodes you watched, except those guys always solved the mystery. This mystery was still unsolved.
'I hope he's okay.' you thought absent mindedly. You stopped for a moment and thought about what you had just pondered, shaking your head a bit.
"He's already dead and buried by now (Name)…no sense in worrying about his welfare…"
You almost wanted to slap yourself for saying such a thing. But you didn't because it was true. You only hoped that he did manage to escape and lived the rest of his life happily somewhere. Your thoughts were interrupted by a familiar ring tone, indicating that Alfred was calling you. You jogged into the living room and picked your phone up off the kitchen counter and answered the call.
"Hey Alfred." you said, leaning against the counter as you spoke.
"Hey! Are you busy right now?" he asked. You already knew that indicated that he wanted to hang out with you today. You smiled a bit.
"Nope. Not really." you said, flicking a crumb off the counter and onto the floor.
"Good! Then could you come over? Its really important." he said, excitement obvious in his voice. You furrowed your brows a bit.
"What is it?" you asked, now curious about what was so important that you had to come over. You would have come over regardless if it was important. But Alfred rarely had anything important to show you. Unless it was a new game that he bought.
"Its a surprise! Just come on over okay?" he said, hanging up on you before you could say yes or no. You pulled the phone away from your ear and slowly looked at it.
'Well that was weird.' you thought to yourself as you placed your phone back on the counter. You sighed and decided to just go on over and see what was so 'important.' You looked down at yourself and realized that it was one in the afternoon and you were still in your PJ's.
'Better get dressed first." you concluded as you made your way over to your room. You decided on some faded jeans, black converse and a shirt with the Super Man logo on the front. Alfred had bought you that shirt when he absentmindedly caught one of your favorite shirts on fire…with you still in it. Ah good times. Thankfully you didn't even get a burn on you. But your shirt suffered greatly. So he thought that would make up for it. Even though the shirt that had gotten burned was made of silk…no hard feelings.  

It was a sunny day outside today, in fact there wasn't even a cloud in the sky. It was a nice late August afternoon. Once you locked your door and took a step outside of your apartments you took in a deep breath of fresh air. You had mostly stayed inside since you got back, you were too disinterested in much of anything else. Walking down the flight of stairs you made your way to your car, which was nicely parked next to a tree. Conveniently shading your poor car from the August heat. Well at least you wouldn't have to worry about your butt sticking to the seat. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
On your way over to Alfred's house you couldn't stop thinking about what you had previously read on the internet. About Arthur.
You tightened your grip on the steering wheel as you sat at a red light, trying your best not to worry about someone who was gone already. So, to distract yourself from thinking about it any further you decided to think about something else. Like kittens licking ice cream cones and then getting some on their nose. It made you giggle as the light turned green and you gently stepped on the gas pedal.
You only lived about 15 minutes away from Alfred so it did not take very long to get there. Once you pulled into his driveway and set your car in park, you turned the engine off and stepped out of the car. On your way up to his door you kept wondering what was so important that he needed to show you. You gave your trusty "shave and a hair cut" knock, ringing the doorbell on the last two notes as you waited for Alfred to come flying through the door as he usually did. But you found yourself waiting.
'That's weird.' you thought as you furrowed your brows and knocked again. Still no answer. Sighing and rolling your eyes you decided to just do what good friends do to other friends houses. A little 'B and E'.
Turning the knob you opened the large door and stepped inside.
"Alfred?" you called out, listening for any sign of him. But the house was dead quiet. You scrunched your face a bit in confusion as you closed the door behind you, taking a few steps inside.
"Alfred if your trying to pop out and scare me just remember what happened last time you tried that!" you called out as you entered the living room. You stopped dead in your tracks when you entered the living room.
'No that can't be right.' you thought to yourself as you looked around some more. The living room was actually clean! For a moment you actually believed that you had entered the wrong house and were about to leave when you stopped and looked at something that caught your eye. You spotted a piece of folded paper on Alfred's coffee table. You furrowed your brows a bit. It just seemed so…out of place. Not to mention all of the usual food wrappers were gone and all that was on the coffee table was that piece of paper. You took a step closer, curiosity eating away at you in an uncontrollable way. As you got closer to it you noticed that it was, not just a folded piece of paper, but a letter. A letter addressed to you.
'Is…Is that my name?' you wondered as you reached down, picking the thin parchment up off the table and bringing it closer to your face so you would be able to look at it better. There, written in beautiful calligraphy was your name. You were starting to get confused and wondered who had wrote you a letter in this writing. It certainly wasn't from Alfred, that boy had the worst chicken scratch you had ever seen. Since the letter was indeed addressed to you, you decided that there would be no harm in reading it.
So as you unfolded the letter and opened it all the way out, your eyes scanned over more beautiful calligraphy. It instantly reminded you of someone whom you had been trying to forget for a few months now. You quickly shook your head of any thoughts of him. No sense in thinking about someone who was dead.
With a deep breath you began to read the letter to yourself, scanning over the graceful lettering.
My dearest (Name)

I told you once before and so will say it once again. I am a coward. I had been wanting to tell you something of the utmost importance. But alas I could not find the strength in me nor the words to express what I had so desperately wanted to tell you. I was a fool not to tell you sooner but you see, whenever I tried to I found myself speechless.
You my dear always seemed to steal the words right out of my mouth. In my mind and heart they stayed but escaping past my lips they never did.  Not in your presence. Never in your presence. Only in the deepest parts of my heart were those words ever uttered. Though the heart depends on the lips to speak for it, I suppose my lips would not cooperate with my heart at the time.
I have never been very skilled with my words. Whether they are written down in a letter as this one is, or spoken face to face. A desperate man is what I am but I shall try to do my best to find that courage within me to finally tell you something I have been wanting to tell you, quite possible from the moment I saw you. So, my dear (Name). If you would. Turn around so that I may finally tell you what I never got a chance to before.

As soon as you read the last remaining words of the letter in your hands you did as the letter requested. You slowly turned around to meet the author of this mystery letter. As soon as you turned around you were left speechless. Your eyes widened in shock and your hands lost their strength to hold onto the weightless piece of paper in your hands, sending it fluttering down to the floor by your feet. You clamped a hand over your mouth  as you stared into a pair of emerald colored eyes.
"Long time no see love." Arthur said as he stood in the entryway, gazing at you with a loving expression. He smiled sweetly at you as you continued to stand there, speechless and almost unable to move. Time seemed to stop altogether as you stared at the man whom history said had disappeared without a trace. Finally…you were able to find your voice again.
"A-Arthur?" you said quietly, slowly removing your hand from your mouth and placing it over your beating heart, which was quickening its pace as each second passed. Arthur just smiled at you even more and gave a gentle nod. You took in a shaky breath and tried to steady your emotions.
"B-But…how?" you asked in disbelief. "I-I though you were dead or disappeared-"  Soon you saw Alfred step out from behind the entryway and smile at you, his hands shoved into his pockets.
"I told you it was important. And the hero always saves the day." he said with the biggest smile you had ever seen on his face. You smiled at him as you felt tears of happiness start to well up in your eyes.
"Alfred-"
"Don't worry about it." he said, already knowing what you were going to say.
"But I think this guy wanted to tell you something important so I'll leave you two alone." Alfred gave you a wink before heading off to the kitchen. You stood there for a moment, processing what had all just happened. Still not believing who was standing in front of you. You and Arthur stood there, looking at each other for a while in silence.
"(Name) I wanted to tell you that-" You quickly interrupted whatever Arthur was about to say and rushed over, pulling him into a hug and burying your face into his shoulder as you let a few tears fall from your eyes. Arthur quickly returned your embrace, wrapping his arms around your body and holding you close to himself.
"I never thought I'd see you again." you whispered into his shoulder, squeezing him closer to you for dear life. After all…
You thought he was dead.
Arthur placed a hand on the back of your head and cradled you with affection and longing. Missing you just as dearly as you had missed him.
"I'm so glad to see you again." he whispered back, placing a gentle kiss on top of your head. Your skin tingled all over at his sudden and unexpected action, causing you to pull away slightly and look up at him with a confused look on your face.
"Arthur?" you asked with a tremble in your voice as he cupped your face gently with his other hand, staring into your eyes with more passion then you had ever seen in anyone else. You suddenly felt slightly afraid by this action of his. Partly because you were not expecting it and partly because you were speculating what he was going to do next.
"(Name)…I love you." he said gently to you. "I love you…and I cannot bare the thought of living one more day of my life without you in it."
You felt a few more stray tears escape your eyes when you heard him speak those beautiful words to you, your emotions for him finally becoming undone after all this time. You felt almost foolish for letting yourself go so easily, but you couldn't stop yourself at the moment. Arthur looked at you lovingly and brushed away your fallen tears with his thumb gently.
"Please don't cry my dear." he said softly to you as you broke down even more, looking down a bit so he wouldn't see you cry anymore then you already were. But he wouldn't let you look away from him. Lifting your head back up, he brushed away anymore tears that made their way down your face.
"You big idiot!….You….I…..I love you too." you said through your sobs, voice becoming a gentle whisper at the end.
"I will always love you." he whispered softly to you, leaning down close and placing a gentle yet loving kiss on your trembling lips. You immediately felt weak at your knees and began to collapse, only to be caught by Arthur. Never once breaking his kiss with you. Finally he pulled away gently, but only a few centimeters away.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." he said with a smile on his face. This caused you to let out a gentle laugh as you closed your eyes and kissed him back, sliding your hands up to his neck...Your touching moment was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Does this mean you two are going to be wedded and have children?" Peter asked from behind Arthur, watching the display in front of him with a slight grossed out look on his face. You snapped your eyes open and looked past Arthur to see Peter standing there, rocking back and forth on his heals with Alfred standing behind him.
"Peter?!" you asked in disbelief, shocked to see the boy in front of you.
"Well I couldn't bring Artie here without bringing his little bro here too now could I?" Alfred asked, laughing his signature laugh. Arthur looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Alfred.
"Its Arthur." he said in a serious tone, correcting Alfred at the pronunciation of his name. Alfred waved him off.
"Yeah, yeah whatever you say dude." Alfred said nonchalantly. You still had one question though.
"Wait a minute." you said, pulling away from Arthur and looking at all three of them with a serious expression.
"How did you even find him Alfred? I mean, how would you know what he even looked like?!?" you asked, clearly confused how all of this was possible. Alfred chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Trust me, It took me a few tries to track this guy down." Alfred said, giving you an exhausted look.
"Also I sent myself the picture of him from your phone so I'd know who to look for."
You stood there and listened to Alfred as he explained how he had found Arthur.
"Like I said before, it took me a few tries to find this guy. Not exactly the most easy person to find. Anyways I heard that some guy named Arthur Kirkland was being executed the next day. I knew I had to hurry or that dude was going to be toast! So, using the teleportation option on the bracelet I popped into his cell and-"
"-Wait a minute! You can teleport with the bracelet?!?" you asked in shock, interrupting Alfred's story.
"Well yeah!" he said, as if you were suppose to know this. You narrowed your eyes at him and placed you hands on your hips, huffing a bit.
"Well you could have told me that before! That little trick would have come in handy!" you said, thinking of all the bad situations you could have gotten out of if you knew that before.
"No interruptions! The hero is talking!" he said. You sighed and crossed your arms.
"Proceed." you said.
"Anyways…where was I…oh yeah! So this guy was, like, totally gonna kick the bucket if the hero hadn't stepped in and saved the day!" he said as he posed like superman, causing Peter to giggle at Alfred's actions. Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose a bit.
"Perhaps I should tell the rest.' he said as he recapped the story from his point of view…
Arthur was sitting in the dark cell they were holding him in, slumped against the wall in misery. Knowing he only had a few more hours of life left. He began to think of his family and the one's he cared about. His brother Peter of course. His crew whom he had been eternally grateful for. Shoot he even thought of Francis! But then he thought of you as his gaze fell upon the small window, the full moon shining down upon him. He sighed a bit in sadness. Ever since you had left him so quickly, every full moon after that reminded him of you and his loss. He thought about how nice it would have been to see you one last time. To see your smile, to hear your laugh…just one last time before he was taken in death. He slowly closed his eyes and filled his last thoughts with memories of everything that made him happy.
All of a sudden he saw, even with his eyes closed, a flash of blue light. It reminded him of the same light he had seen when you had left. Opening his eyes he quickly looked over to see a shadowed figure standing in his cell. Instantly becoming on alert he jumped a bit and sat up.
"W-Who goes there! State your business!" he said, trying to sound as dangerous as he possibly could. He then saw the mystery figure take a step closer. Then a bright stream of light came beaming toward Arthur, causing himself to squint from the suddenness of the strange light.
"Aha! I found you dude!" the mystery figure said. Arthur stopped for a moment.
'Wait a moment…I recognize that voice…'
Slowly uncovering his eyes he tried his best to look at the person in front of him. Getting to his feet he stood tall, sizing the stranger up.
"You….who are you?" Arthur demanded, not about to let his mind play tricks on him. He heard obnoxiously loud laughter from the person as the beam of light pointed at the stranger. Arthur finally got a good look at his face.
"Dude! I'm totally saving your butt here." he said. Arthur knew right away that he knew that voice.
"Have we…met before?" Arthur inquired, taking a tentative step closer to the tall stranger before him. The stranger laughed again.
"Name's Alfred F. Jones. I'm a friend of (Name)'s." he said. Arthur's eyes widened immediately at the mention of your name.
"(Name)? You know (Name)??" he asked in both excitement and shock. He stopped for a moment and recalled something.
"Wait a moment…your that chap I spoke to on that…talking device she had!" he said in a bit of a raised voice. Alfred just rolled his eyes a bit.
"Yeah…that was me. Anyways do you want out of here or not?" he said, trying to get straight to the point. Arthur took a step back and eyed Alfred suspiciously.
"Why would you help me?" he asked, becoming untrusting of Alfred. Alfred just sighed and lowered his flashlight a bit.
"Look dude. (Name)'s been pretty depressed since she got back home. I hate seeing her like that…" he said, staring off to the side for a moment before speaking again.
"Do you want to see her or not?" he said finitely. Arthur didn't even think about it for another moment.
"Y-Yes!" he said. Alfred nodded and walked over to Arthur, grabbing hold of his arm.
"Okay, just hold still now." he said.
"Wait a moment!" Arthur said, stopping Alfred before he could do anything else.
"What?" Alfred asked, confused by Arthur's outburst.
"I….I can't leave without my brother Peter." he said, determined not to leave without taking Peter with him. Alfred snapped his fingers.
"No problem! Just tell me where he is and we'll pick him up." he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So then we found Peter, brought him with us and here we are." Arthur said, concluding the explanation. You stood there for a moment, soaking in all you that had been spoken to you.
"Thank you for going through all that trouble." you said to Alfred, smiling up at your best friend. Alfred gave you a thumbs up.
"No problem!" he said
"But wait…that means that you two will be stuck here for a month." you said, realizing that the full moon was last night. Arthur chuckled with his hand to his chin.
"Oh…I think we'll be staying here for much longer then that, love." he said, looking at you slyly. You gave him a 'Wth?' look before he spoke again.
"Peter and I will be staying here."
"But…wont that mess up history?" you said, looking over at Alfred.
"Psh, nah. The dude was as good as dead so he would really have no history to mess up anyways." he said, taking a bite from his hamburger that he seemed to get out of no where. Arthur made a sour face.
"Eugh. What on earth is that?" he questioned, eyeing the strange food in Alfred's hands.
"Ish a burgr dude. Whan shom?" he said with a mouthful of food. Arthur grimaced at Alfred's atrocious manners.
"Its not polite to speak with food in one's mouth git. And no, I do not want any of…whatever that is." he said, scolding Alfred. You chuckled a bit as Alfred gave you a look that said.
'Is this guy for real?'
You laughed as the two began to bicker a bit about manners and decency and how its not polite to speak with food in one's mouth. It was funny, the way those two acted around each other. You were just happy to find out the mystery behind Arthur's disappearance. Oh you would have to teach him things of the modern world like how to get a job, drive a car, dress differently. It wouldn't be an easy task, especially since he had no record on him but you knew that Kiku could whip up some information for Arthur easily.
For once in a long time you found yourself smiling at the prospect of your future. You decided to break the two apart from their bickering and such.
"Hey, guys!" you called out, grabbing both of their attention.
"Why don't we show Arthur and Peter around a bit?" you said to Alfred. He gave you a funny look.
"Dressed like that?" he asked, pointing to Arthur.
"And what is wrong with the way I dress? As far as I am concerned you sir are dressed inappropriately….and strangely I might add." he said, crossing his arms across his chest.
You laughed a bit and shook your head.
"Arthur, if you walk around like that people are going to think you escaped from a pirate convention or something." you said. Arthur just gave a "Hmph." You smirked a bit and looked over at Alfred.
"Hey Al? Think you could spare some clothes for the time being?" you asked. Alfred gave you a thumbs up as be shoved the last bit of burger in his mouth.
"Sure thing!" Alfred said before bounding down the hallway to his room.
"What about me?" Peter asked, looking slightly left out. You gave him a sweet smile.
"Oh you'll be fine. We'll pick up some clothes for you later." you said, reassuring him. He gave you a smile before Alfred came back into the room.
'Here ya go bro!" he said, practically shoving the clothes in Arthur's chest.
"Uf!…highly unusual." Arthur muttered before waltzing down the hallway. About five minutes later and no sign of Arthur you began to wonder where he had gone. You walked down the hallway and knocked on the bathroom door gently.
"Arthur? You okay in there?" you asked, waiting for the Brit's response.
"I'm not coming out dressed like this." Arthur said, you could practically hear the pout in his voice. You rolled your eyes and leaned against the wall opposite the door.
"Oh come on. Let me see your new threads!" you said, smirking a bit.
"These new 'threads' as you call it are ridiculous." he said. A mischievous smile spread across your face.
"Don't make me come in there." you said. You heard him sigh and shuffle around in the bathroom before the door opened. Out stepped Arthur in a pair of jeans, black tennis shoes, a white T-shirt with the statement  "Like a Boss!" typed on it and a black hoodie to go with it.
"I feel like a fool." he said, embarrassed with his new clothing. You whistled a bit and pushed yourself off the wall.
"You clean up nicely." you said, causing him to sigh a bit.
"Do I really have to wear this?" he said in an almost whiny voice. You laughed and grabbed him by the wrist.
"Don't worry, I'll let you pick out some clothing of your own later. Stuff that's more your taste." you said. For some reason you pictured him as being the type to wear tan dress pants and a sweater vest with a white dress shirt underneath. You shrugged your shoulders and dragged him into the living room.
"Ready to go!" you announced, dragging a disgruntled Arthur behind you. Peter laughed when he saw his brother.
"You look funny Arthur!" he said, snickering as his brother glared at him.
"Don't laugh too hard Peter…your next." he said with a smirk. Peter's eyes widened as he gasped a bit. You laughed as the four of you exited Alfred's home.
Alright! I'll drive!' Alfred said, making his way over to his bit Ford truck. Arthur cocked an eyebrow at the strange machine in front of him.
"What on earth is this?"" Arthur questioned, eyeing the shiny machine with a wary look.
"Dude! You don't even know what a truck is?!"" Alfred asked in shock. Arthur slowly looked at Alfred.
"No. I don't."
You quickly interjected.
"Its like a carriage…only without the need of horses." you said. Peter jumped up and down excitedly.
"Ooo! I want to ride in it!" he said.
"I think I'd prefer to walk right now." Arthur said, taking an obvious step away from Alfred's truck. Peter protested with an "Awww!". You giggled and motioned for Alfred and Peter.
"Come on. I think a nice walk is a great idea." you said as Alfred shrugged and ran ahead of you two, Peter following him closely. As the four of you walked in Alfred's neighborhood you had fun pointing things out to Arthur and explaining what they are. He would nod with a smile, trying to become accustomed to his new life. It was much different then what he was use to, this much was true. But somehow…he didn't mind it. In fact, he could picture himself living quite happily here with (Name). For once in a long time Arthur finally felt at home. Somewhere that he belonged. He looked over to you and smiled, thanking his lucky stars that you had mistakenly fallen into his world and snuck aboard his ship. Otherwise he never would have met you and who knows what would have happened to him. Yes, although it was quite the predicament he was in at first, this former pirate was now happy about this new predicament he was in. For he knew that no matter where he went, no matter what his future may hold he would be happy because he knew that his future included you…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"……(Name)?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah Arthur?" you said.
"Does that young man realize that his trousers are falling down?" he said, watching a teenager walk across the street with his pants halfway down.
All you could do was laugh.