I gave a lot of you whiplash with how quickly that last chapter turned! XD

The POV is all Arthur this time.

"He wants to leave!"

"I told you, there is nothing I can do about it."

The only fairy which doesn't flee at Alfred's presence, persistently tugs at a lock of his hair. She'll make him bald if Alfred doesn't stress all his hair out first. Arthur closes his laptop and rubs the strain out of his eyes. It seems he isn't going to get any work done today.

"He can't go home!"

He should be elated by the news of Alfred's departure. Why isn't he elated? The American is rude, gluttonous, destructive, boisterous, horribly overprotective, and..."I know you'll miss him my dear, but do not stress yourself over it. He'll eventually come back: like a flu virus."

"You don't understand. I didn't take his collar off!"

Arthur pauses in the midst of putting all his things away. "Alfred took it off himself?"

"No! It was the spirit coexisting within Alfred's body. It has bound itself to him. When Alfred decided he should go home, I didn't think it would actually do something to force him to stay!"

Do something!?

Arthur is up out of his chair and dashing down the hallway before he can think to ask exactly what had been done. There is a possibility the fairy may be telling lies; however, the déjà vu of finding the living room empty, the kitchen empty, and the tap water running, quells that suspicion. Once outside, he spots Alfred digging up handfuls of soil from the center of the mushroom fairy ring where the house key had been. Arthur can tell from the man's strange aura that it isn't really Alfred.

So much for hoping the spirit would peacefully leave of it own accord.

"You can not go back this way," Arthur says as he kneels down to the spirit's level. "This portal is not your home to return to."

The spirit shifts its focus up and away from destroying Arthur's lawn. Alfred's cat eyes are a new shade of gold.

Arthur tentatively places a hand on either side of the man's face, caressing his thumbs over Alfred's cheeks. "I'll set everything right." He's not sure who he's trying to sooth and assure by doing this: the spirit or himself. "First you are going to have to give Alfred back to me. Please."

Those gold eyes lazily blink at him before slowly drifting shut. It's not clear if the spirit understand him or not, but the subsequent purring is a good sign.

When Alfred's eyes open again, one is blue and the other still gold. Arthur can practically see the cogs turning in his brain as he takes a moment to process who's in front of him and where he is.

"Arthur, I have the awesomest teleportation powers! It could possibly be time traveling powers. I was in the kitchen -to get a drink of water and nurse this massive headache- when suddenly I was two people! The other me walked out the back door as cool as a cucumber. Until now I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't hear, and it felt like every living thing had disappeared off the face of the planet...or...or maybe I'm a zombie? Shit! I'm dead and my zombie body is terrorizing British neighborhoods! Arthur, I give you permission to blow my freakin' zombie head off before I eat some poor soul's intestines like Italy does with pasta! Wait. You're not running away from me. Does that mean you're a zombie too? Whaaaa! I'm so sorry I made you a zombie Arthur!"

Arthur pinches Alfred's cheeks and pulls: distorting his face into something more suitable for a clown. When Arthur lets go, his face snaps back into place like a rubber band.

"Dude! What the hell is with you and violence!?"

"I'm verifying that you are neither dead nor a zombie. You don't have teleportation or time traveling powers either." Arthur stands, helps the other get to his feet, and proceeds to brush off the bits of garden he doesn't want tracked into his house. Alfred is clearly torn between being happy about not being a zombie and disappointed with not having superhero powers. Arthur sighs. "I suppose it's time I give you some explanations."

~#~

"Sooooo you were lonely and wanted a pet cat? Why didn't you just adopt one like sane people do?"

"I wasn't lonely and I didn't want an ordinary cat either!" Arthur protests as he places a floral patterned cup of tea on the kitchen table in front of Alfred. No surprise, Alfred is having a hard time understanding what's going on no matter how many times Arthur tries to simplify this for him. "A cat spirit had been terrorizing my garden gnomes. I had finally succeeded in capturing the pesky thing by trapping it within the maneki neko statue."

Alfred scrunches up his nose at the cup of not-coffee, not-soda, and definitely not-water. "Oh! You mean like The Smurfs? Are Smurfs gnomes? That means the cat spirit is Azrael. Are you confusing TV shows with reality Arthur?"

"I've changed my mind. I'm going to put you out of your misery instead. It would be the most humane thing to do," Arthur deadpans. "I intended to give the cat spirit a physical body and keep it by my side as a harmless familiar; however, entities are opportunistic. Why remain trapped in a statue when an idiot sets it free and offers himself up so willingly? Your new appearance is a sign of being possessed."

"Ok. Let's say I believe all this hocus pocus mumbo jumbo. Don't glare at me like that. It doesn't explain why I can't go home."

"The problem is, if you want to stop any spirit or magical creature from causing havoc you have to bind it, and to bind it you have to sacrifice a part of yourself as a price. This thing is bound to you and has some level of power. Since you're the weaker party in the magical hierarchy, it can pretty much do whatever it wants and you can't stop it. Apparently this cat spirit does not want to leave so neither will you."

"How are you going to change me back?"

"If I can change you back. I wasn't exaggerating when I told you it would be dangerous to try. Spirits and souls are not glowing orbs of energy one can simply force apart. They are free flowing forms which tend to weave together in intricate patterns and knots. A powerful sorcerer (such as myself) can undo the binding, but there is always a risk to your life."

Alfred frowns. "I have a fifty-fifty chance of success then."

"Less depending on just how strongly you're bound. You can either take the risk or stay here until the cows come home. It is your choice in the end, but we both know your answer so drink up."

Alfred swirls the contents of his cup, causing the liquid to nearly slosh over the edge. "Something is floating around in here."

"They're just tea leaves."

"I know what tea leaves look like and these look nothin' like tea leaves."

Truth be told, the tea was brewed with all sorts of things Alfred would find disagreeable. He should be thankful it had not been made using eye of newt -which is surprising considering it is a requirement in most potions for some reason. "Just drink the damn tea."

Alfred pinches his nose and gulps down the tepid drink as fast as he can in an attempt not to taste anything.

Arthur takes the delicate cup away from him and places it on the counter out of harms way. "Now I need you to climb up onto the table."

Alfred looks at him as if he's been replaced by an extraterrestrial lifeform and the real Arthur is helplessly cocooned somewhere up in the attic. "Were you not just scolding me two seconds ago about sitting on chairs?"

"We must always make exceptions to the rules." Arthur ushers Alfred up from his seat. "Move yourself directly over to the center. Keep your body within the confines of the engraved symbol below you."

Alfred does as he is told: criss-crossing his legs, keeping his arms close to his body, and wrapping his tail around torso. "Like this?"

"Yes. Very good. Enjoy your cat nap Alfred."

"But I'm not sleepy." Cue a sharp toothed yawn. "Even if I was-" He slowly nods off but instantly startles himself awake. "-that is the worst joke," he says in a voice rapidly approaching a whisper, "in the history of terrible jokes."

If Alfred has anything more to say, only his dreams will hear it. That drink was strong enough to take down a full grown elephant. Hopefully he'll remain perfectly still and silent for as long as this spell may take. Arthur leans forward to place his right hand on Alfred's chest and says a spell with the force of his will behind it.

"Be like the grave, for only death can tear the strongest bonds asunder."

Alfred takes a deep breath and holds it. Shortly after, a purple mist begins to seep out of his chest like an open wound beneath Arthur's palm. It spills onto the table and slowly molds itself into the recognizable shape of a cat. Opaque splotches of white fur bloom and spread over its transparent body and gold eyes fill in empty sockets. The closer the cat gets to a solid form, the closer Alfred visibly gets to being his normal self.

Once Alfred's animal ears and tail are gone, the cat spirit begins to flicker in and out of existence like a broken light bulb before completely vanishing.

Nothing else happens.

Arthur looks on in confusion when Alfred does not start breathing again and his pulse becomes considerably weaker. It's too soon for Alfred to quit the world from lack of oxygen. It must mean the cat spirit cannot -or will not- let Alfred's soul go and is dragging him away with it.

Not on Arthur's watch it won't!

"Alfred!" Arthur shouts whilst shaking the man roughly by his shoulders."You sorry, pathetic excuse for a man, fight back!"

The engraved symbol below ignites with a green flame. It doesn't burn, but Arthur is caught off guard enough to step back as it flares with a phantom intensity. When it snuffs out, Alfred opens his eyes and takes in a desperate breath of air. After his gasping and coughing fit subsides, he immediately places his hands on his head and sighs in relief to find the absence of cat ears.

"Welcome back," Arthur says as he pulls a kitchen chair over and slumps into it. These types of spells always leave him exhausted.

"I am not pathetic," Alfred replies with a pout.

"Your knack for completely disregarding everyone's hard work, and the danger you were in, to focus on your hurt pride is astounding. I do believe a 'thank you' is in order."

"Thank you," Alfred says as he eases himself off the table and stretches his limbs. His eyes scan the kitchen in search of something. "I don't see the magical cat you were talking about. Will you have to chase it down again?"

Arthur's garden gnomes aren't going to be too happy to hear the news. It took nearly a month to capture that silly cat and he's not looking forward to the renewed effort.

"May as well not stress myself over it. It'll eventually come back: like a flu virus."

The End

Yay! My first completed story!

It didn't end as originally requested, but I think this is more interesting than just letting the spell simply fade away. Ah, it felt a little abrupt too, but all attempts to fix this turned out terrible. I had to force myself to post this chapter before a year went by! Hahaha.

That said, I hope you found this story entertaining in some way, no matter how infinitesimal. Lots-O-Love to everyone who commented, favorited, followed, or lurked anonymously in the shadows!