Fountain of Youth (Fruk)

8

"Finally! We are here!" I cheered. There were still many people around the fountain. "What are we looking for exactly?" I asked, confused. I put my hands on my hips, looking around, but I was lost. "No clue, but I figured this was a start. We need to think of anything we could have done last night to have caused this," Arthur spoke.

We walked closer to the fountain and watched as the people talked. I started to watch the children play in the fountain. They were so happy and cute and reminded me of Alfred and Matthew when they were younger. I could not help but smile; then it hit me.

"Hey, didn't we step into the fountain like them?" I asked. Arthur finally turned to where I was looking, and his eyes widened. "You are right, but I am sure we were not the only ones who were doing that; I am not sure that is the reason we changed," He said. I suppose he had a point, but I will leave that option in my head. "Excuse me...are you looking for me?" A voice asked. I looked at Arthur, who had a hand on his shoulder but did not belong to him; it belonged to someone else.

I followed where the hand was, leading to a girl; she was beautiful and young and looked like the girl we bumped into last night. "Hey...aren't you the...."

"The girl from last night? Indeed I am...and I see that the two have been a bit busy!" she giggled. My protective instincts kicked in, and I pulled Arthur away from her. "Aww, don't be that way! I mean, well!"

"What? what do you mean by that?"

"Well...I thought it would have been obvious by now," she spoke.

Arthur suddenly pulled away from me and looked at her, shocked. "You did this, but why?" he asked. He was right...she was openly admitting to us that she had caused this. She continued to smile at us and quickly got between the two of us, putting her arms around our shoulders and bringing us close. "Follow me; we should talk," she smiled. She began pulling us toward a quiet area, and I started to feel worried about the situation. The woman sat down on one of the benches and left Arthur and me standing like an idiot as we looked at her, confused and me.

"Oh! Come now! I promise I don't bite! Don't the two of you want to know what happened?" she asked. I looked at Arthur concerned, and he gave me the same look. "Okay then..." he spoke. What? What if this lady is messing with us?

She smiled at his response and urged him to sit beside her, which he did within seconds. Arthur looked at me as if telling me to sit down too, but I was hesitant. Even despite that, I still sat down on the other side of her, away from Arthur. "Okay, what did you do to us?" I asked, annoyed. I was starting to get a bad feeling about the whole situation. "Before I answer many of your questions, I should introduce myself," she spoke. I began to look out toward the people and listen to her talk.

"My name is Elizaveta...but people call me Hebe," She started.

That name...

I suddenly remembered yesterday when Arthur asked me about what was written on the fountain. There was a name there...that name that belonged to her. He had recognized the name but couldn't remember how. "I recognized your name," Arthur spoke. "As you did! And the recognition alone called upon me; you should feel honored to be in the presence of a goddess!" she cheered. My jaw dropped at what she said, and Arthur looked at me, horrified. "What? But it isn't like we called upon you! How is this possible?"

"Yeah, this can't be possible. How do you expect us to believe that you are a god?" Arthur asked. Elizaveta...or Hebe...began to look at her nails. "Well, whether you believe me or not, I am why you are like this, so I am your way back to normal. Arthur happened to recognize me, calling my attention to the fountain dedicated to me, then I granted both of your wishes," she spoke.

Our wishes...

I looked at Arthur nervously, and he, too, looked terrified. Was this my fault? I had washed deep down to be young, but I was not serious about it. Arthur only wanted a Corgi, but my wish after was not for this to happen. "I know those looks; you are both confused about how this could have happened when you did not say your true wishes out loud; I get it," She laughed.

WHAT?!

I looked at Arthur, confused, and he looked sorry. "Don't worry, the two of you wished to be young!" Elizaveta announced. What? I thought he only wanted a Corgi. We were both speechless. I knew I had wished for this deep down, but I did not expect him to have wished for this too. Maybe that is why he worried about returning to normal right away; he blamed himself.

"How do we turn back to normal?" I asked. Arthur looked over at me, and I could tell he looked extremely sad. "Ah, about that, I don't have the power..."

"WHAT?! YOU JUST SAID YOU WERE OUR WAY BACK!"

"Hahaha...I did...didn't I?"

"Yes..." Arthur spoke, annoyed.

I moved away from her, and she smiled at me. "Oh, come on! Don't worry; I have a plan to get you both back to normal!" She cheered. She pulled us toward her once more and shoved our faces against her cheek. "How?" I asked. "Well, lucky for you, I know a guy...the god of aging, to be exact...I call him Gilbert, and he is a real pain in my ass, but we complete each other," she laughed. However, her words did not match her laugh. She laughed evilly, and it freaked me out.

"Okay, well, talk to him," Arthur spoke. She held her figure to his lips and shook her head. "Tsk, Tsk, not that easy...and that is where the two of you come into play... let's think of this relationship as something predestined."

"Okay, well, what do you want with us?" I asked.

"Nothing too crazy, but I figured two old men like you would be wise..."

If she is a god...wouldn't she be old too?

"Okay...go on..." Arthur spoke.

"I want the two of you to steal the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!"

"WHAT?!"

Our jaws dropped, and she began to laugh at us. "I am joking, of course!..... Unless you wanted to...then that would be super cool!" She laughed, smacking our backs. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at me. "No, but seriously, the two of you will have to talk to him and tell him about the situation..."

"What? Why can't you?" Arthur asked.

"Ah...well, lately, I have not been following the rules and have been screwing people over, so I know he might be upset with me," She began to laugh. Elizaveta began to scratch the back of her head, and she smiled. "What?!" Arthur asked, horrified. "Yeah! I know! And I am usually the responsible one..." She laughed. "Where is he? How do we even talk to him?" I asked.

"Ah, yes, I can tell you where he is...but I must warn you that he has his own set of conditions for you to meet..." She smirked. It was a weird smile that made my stomach sink to the ground. She still had her arms around us and shoved a paper into my shirt pocket. "That has everything you will need," she spoke. Elizaveta suddenly pushed us off the bench, and I quickly reached for Arthur so he would not land on the floor.

"Ow..."

"Are you okay?"

He began inspecting the hands I landed on, and I showed him slowly. It was only a scrape. I began to turn my head to look at Elizaveta, but she was gone. Great...

Arthur still held my hands, inspecting them, and I turned back to him. "She is gone..." I spoke. He looked to where she had sat and saw that she was gone. "This is my fault...I had thought about being young again when we were in that fountain..." He spoke. I shook my head in disagreement. "No, I was thinking the same thing, so it was not your fault...at least not entirely...but don't worry, maybe when we find this guy, everything will return to normal..."