**Griff, Donovan, and CD are barricaded behind what appears to be a table turned on its side. Vegetables pelt them**
Griff: *whimpers* *yells* I'm sorry! I've had lots of things to do! And it didn't help that FF.Net was deciding not to exist yesterday! I would have uploaded earlier today, but I was watching The Two Towers, as everyone should've. Yay Leggy! *glomps Legolas*
Legolas: *blinks confusedly*
Donovan: *glares*
Griff: Eheh...
CD: Gwiff no own Yu-Gi-Oh!
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Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope
Chapter XI
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donovan awoke to find himself lying on something soft. He kept his eyes firmly shut, and it took him a moment to realize that he was on a bed, and his head was cushioned by a pillow.
He cracked his eyes open, and peered around blearily. Was this still the Shadow Realm? It couldn't be. The walls were painted light green, and the décor was nothing like the medieval-style most Shadow Realm castles had.
For the first time, he noticed the worried face looking back into his. Mordred smiled.
"You're finally awake," he said. "Welcome to the real world."
Donovan blinked, bringing the room into sharper focus. "How'd I get out?" Then he looked at his best friend. "What on Earth are you wearing?"
Mordred looked down at his T-shirt and jeans, both his usual black, and chuckled. "Modern clothes."
The younger knight sat up, bracing himself for the pain of multiple lashings, courtesy of Morgan.
But it never came. Donovan craned his neck over his shoulder, trying to get a better look at his bare back, noting the lack of red stripes. He frowned in confusion. "What happened?" he asked.
"My mother fixed you up before sending us all back here." Mordred gestured vaguely, referring to the "real world" in general.
"Morgan?" Donovan was incredulous.
The blond man nodded. "She said Alvis freed her from some curse by defeating her in the duel."
Donovan smiled, remembering. "Do you know, I'd never done that before."
"Done what?"
"A duel like that. They're not as technology-crazy in England as they are here in Japan. It was always just the cards."
Mordred nodded slowly, a bit confused. Then he started to stand up. "The others will want to know that you're up. Alvis and Ryou just got back from school."
"How long have we been back?"
"Only a few hours. It's still Tuesday." He turned to leave, but Donovan stopped him again.
"Could you get me a shirt?"
* * * * *
Wednesday afternoon found Alvis, Ryou, and Donovan saying their goodbyes to Mordred and Merlin, Mordred again dressed in what he had been wearing when he had arrived in Domino. Merlin smiled as Alvis asked for what seemed like the hundredth time where they were going.
"Another world – my world. You wouldn't be able to reach it by modern methods."
Mordred suddenly drew Excalibur from where it was sheathed at his side. He turned it around and handed it to Alvis, the hilt towards her. "You've earned this, I think," he told her. "Keep it as a souvenir."
The girl grasped the hilt, and for a moment they all saw her as she would have been in King Arthur's time – a lady knight, clad in shining armor. But then the image faded, and she handed Excalibur back to Mordred. "I think you'll need it more than me."
He nodded and re-sheathed the sword.
"Don't go getting yourself killed." This came from Donovan, who was narrowing his eyes at Mordred. "You're still my best friend."
Mordred clapped the other knight on the shoulder, smirking slightly. "Don't worry. You can learn a lot in the way of survival skills over fifteen hundred years."
With a final wave, the knight and the sorcerer walked down the street and winked out of sight.
* * * * *
The next morning, Donovan sat on a kitchen stool, staring morosely at the floor below. He was dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans borrowed from Ryou's father – at six-two, he could hardly fit into the clothes of Ryou himself, which Mordred had been wearing.
Mordred.
My best friend's gone, he thought, unknowingly echoing Mordred's thoughts of fifteen hundred years before. We had a day together, and now he's gone again.
A bowl of some fluffy white substance, spotted with creamy lumps, appeared in Donovan's line of vision as Ryou's hand slid it across the counter. The knight looked up and blinked at Ryou. Over the boy's shoulder he could see Bakura and Zekel Sha fighting over a pot of coffee – this was a morning ritual.
When Bakura drew a knife, apparently intending to cut the other spirit's fingers away from the coffeepot, Ryou sighed and stood up to try to separate them.
Donovan's gaze shifted to Alvis, who was studying him thoughtfully, a spoon protruding from her mouth. Donovan picked up a spoon from the counter and poked at the substance in his bowl with it. He was slightly surprised to find that he could cut through the substance easily.
"What is this?"
Alvis removed the spoon from her mouth. "Try it," she replied. "You'll like it."
"That doesn't answer my question," Donovan grumbled. But he tried it anyway.
Taking a large spoonful, he brought the glob of stuff into his mouth. His eyes widened – it was cold! They grew even larger as his head began to throb. He grunted in pain before he swallowed and clutched at his head, trying to make it stop.
The warring spirits looked up from where they were glaring daggers at each other over the coffeepot – Ryou had disarmed Bakura, but had been unable to separate him from either the coffee or his opponent. Tomb robber and Trojan stared at the knight for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter.
The spirit of the Ring temporarily forgot the coffee, but Zekel Sha kept his hold on the pot, coffee sloshing about inside as he shook with laughter. Alvis laughed along with them, and even Ryou, smiling sympathetically, couldn't keep back a few chuckles.
"Never had ice cream before?" Zekel Sha choked out.
Donovan threw a spoon at him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Griff: *dodges a few vegetables* Yes, I know it took five and a half weeks to get this out! *gets hit by a tomato* Ugh... *wipes face off* But I'm sorry!!!
Donovan: I don't think they care, Griff.
Griff: *scowls* You're no help. There's one more chapter to go, people. That'll be the epilogue. Then I've got a couple more stories floating around in my head. *begins counting on her fingers* There's Donovan's history, which might or might not be in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Section, seeing as there's not much YGO material, besides the whole card thing, which will be at the end, plus Merlin having the Eye. Tell me, how many people noticed that he had both his normal eyes in place when he appeared after the prologue?
Donovan: *raises eyebrows* He did? I sure didn't notice.
Griff: Hmph. Anyway, then there's the crossover with The King Must Die from my summer reading list. And then two humor fics, "Road Trip" and the continuation of the random insanity featured last chapter. And possibly Alvis's preincarnation's life in Egypt.
Alvis: *pops in* I had a preincarnation?
Griff: Uh, yeah. Everybody seems to, and I had a good idea for the story.
Alvis: Oh. *pops out*
Griff: I've also got my original fantasy novels, which Slink has been bugging me about...
Gryphos and Drachon: *wander in and look around curiously*
Griff: *blinks* Where'd you come from?
Drachon: *shrugs*
Gryphos: Why are we here?
Donovan: *to Griff* Who are they, and why do they look an awful lot like us?
Griff: They're the gods of Aeren, which I think you should know as my personal fantasy world. You might call them our yamis, though they essentially are us.
Donovan: -_- Now there's a scary thought...
CD: *sitting on a pile of chocolate* *waves to the readers* Hewwo!! ^_^ *starts bouncing around at high speed*
Griff: Gah... *sprays him with Chibi-Un-Hyper-Spray* Anyway, my ever-faithful reviewers!
Karania Avalon – Thank you very much! I am!
Zatken – Thank you! Hooray for the Arthurian era! *glomps Donovan*
Skyla – Thanks very much! *glomps Baku-chan*
Flaed – It's only interesting from a certain point of view. A Zechs rules! *glomps Zechs*
WolfYoukai64 – Wait a minute, when'd you change your name? *shrugs* Of course I care! Please write more? Oooh, you're writing a novel? Cool... What's it about?
SDGD – Kawaii! *huggles Mini BEWD*
Fade – Glad you like it! Here, have some sugar! *gives you a Big Bag o' Sugar™
Griff: *finds herself holding Donovan, Bakura, Zechs, and Silver's mini BEWD* Eheh... *lets them all go, and all except Donovan wander away* By the way, anyone who can figure out what kind of ice cream they were eating in the chapter gets a cameo in "Road Trip"!
CD: Weview!eHe turned i