Disclaimer: You know, Alfred Lord Tennyson has been dead for ages. Do you really think I'm him? To clarify: I DO NOT OWN EVER AFTER OR THE LADY OF SHALOTT

A/N: Thank you to…

Yasona Black: for reviewing. I really appreciate it. And no, it does not end there. I'm not that cruel. (I hope. evil cackles)

Mockingbird84: Thank you! I really like your ff, "Espoir: hope" too! It's awesome! Update soon!

BuffyShakespeareAusten: lol. I like the whole 'I know you, so I'm allowed to be harsh' :D Thanks! Yeah… well… I like the Lady of Shalott. You can do so much with it. :D

drugged-on-chocolate: Didn't you like it when we did it last term? I thought it was fantastic! I was going to do it for the movie poster thing, but I decided to do something else instead. :D Thanks!

Kisaki Hana: Hehe… I LIKE suspense. Just not when I'm reading a ff. So I won't be cruel. Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 2

The guards stared in disbelief at the place where Danielle had been. Finally one plucked up the courage and peered over the edge.

"She's gone."

"I guess you won't be getting that bonus for capturing her after all."

"Darn."

"She must have been desperate."

"She's probably dead now."

"Duh. Let's go back."

The guards turned their horses and whistled to the hounds. A runaway girl was one thing. A dead runaway girl was another.

The sun set and rose again.

Leonardo stood by the river's edge, concentrating deeply on his work. At the rustle in the bushes behind him, he turned.

"Leonardo?" Henry approached tentatively.

"Your highness." Leonardo's tone was cold. Henry flinched. "Did you want me?"

"I needed to talk to you, Leonardo."

"You are." Leonardo wasn't about to make this easy for him. He turned his attention dismissively from Henry.

"About the masque."

"Oh, the masque, now, is it?" Leonardo's gaze had switched back to Henry's face. It was hard and unwelcoming. "I haven't seen so many pretty girls in my life. But you chose to marry the Spanish princess, did you not? But wait. I don't remember seeing you there for the second half of it. You know, the bit after that common servant ran out?" Leonardo stood up. "This conversation wearies me. I'm going to try out my invention."

He stepped out onto the water. Henry grimaced.

"Leonardo…"

"It's holding!"

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" He had gotten Leonardo's attention at last.

"The right thing?" Leonardo snorted. "Why ask me?"

When he looked back, Henry had left.

"Might as well leave. It's getting dark." He muttered to himself. Walking on water took a lot of energy. When he got back to the bank at last, he was tired. He looked out at the water for a reflective moment, and spotted a log drifting along aimlessly. It sagged at one end, and he stared at it, perplexed.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance --
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right --
The leaves upon her falling light --
Thro' the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

By the gods! Was that a… person on the end of that log! Abandoning his water-shoes, he waded through the depths of the river towards the log. Fortunately it wasn't terribly deep.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

It was a person! Leonardo saw the mass of chocolate brown hair and the slight tightening of the fingers against the log. She was alive!

Leonardo towed the girl on the end of her log towards the shore. Her body lay limp on the banks on the river. He looked at her pale face, and gasped. There were scratches on it, that was true. But those were only the product of tearing through trees. But on her cheek were brutal, cruel dagger wounds. Yet through the sadistic cuts, he could still glimpse the proud beauty behind. But only just.

"May God be merciful, fair child."

But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

Leonardo looked at her face. The wounds concealed so much of her appearance; her face was stained with dirt and blood. Still, there was something in that pale, terrified countenance that twinged at his memory. Before he could get hold of it, she sighed, jolting him out of his thoughts.

"I must look after her." He picked her up almost effortlessly. She was frail. He would carry her back to the nearby cottage. He knew of a woman who would help her.

Until he remembered who she was.

A/N: Are my chapters too short? Let me know. I'll try to extend them if you guys think I should. IT'S UP TO YOU! Feel loved:D