The Historian

by Lalaith Quetzalli

(AU to Nightingale). There is more than one version of history, they're all right, and they're all wrong; it just depends on where you're standing at any given time. She knows this, has studied it, has lived it. In the end, she learned her lesson: she's done with just being witness to history, this time? This time she'll be the one making it. (Xover with Smallville)

1. Witness

Ffnet is giving me way too much trouble today, but I promised to have this up, and I know I've still got at least one reader following every fic in this verse, so I couldn't just give up and, here we are!

While this fic is marked as a Wonder Woman - Avengers Xover, it's also a crossover with Smallville, just so you know. Also, remember that while I follow the WW movie, everything else where it concerns DC comes from Smallville rather than their own movieverse, or the more recent tv-shows.

This fic has two parts, the second and last will come in a couple of weeks.

Dreamcast: Emily Browning as Nightingale, Michael Cassidy as Julian Luthor, Kristin Scott Thomas as Kathryn Adler-Salani. All others appear in one or another of the original fandoms.

The songs in this chapter (though only parts of each appear) are: "Soulmate" as sung by Natasha Bedingfield, "Find My Way Back" by Eric Arjes (just imagine it sung by a woman) (this one appears twice, different parts of it).

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The Historian

(Alternative Universe to Nightingale)

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

There is more than one version of history, they're all right, and they're all wrong; it just depends on where you're standing at any given time. She knows this, has studied it, has lived it. In the end, she learned her lesson: she's done with just being witness to history, this time? This time she'll be the one making it.

Witness

You can never know all of history, because history never truly ends.

I was standing in the shadow of the trees, in my usual lilac long-sleeved dress with blue loose pants underneath. Not exactly what most would consider a battle attire, but I'd fought in worse. And I did have my weapons with me: my bow and arrows, as well as the copper knife, and the set of throwing knives; all gifts. Those who didn't know me, who didn't understand my life, might have thought I was crazy, what need did I have to go around so armed, like I was about to step into a battlefield… but while I'd no intention of doing that, not then, not yet, I was no stranger to battlefields. Had been through two wars, and more things that while they'd never been called by such names, had ended up being just as bad.

So I stood there, letting the shadows shield me as I bore witness to the events taking place in that backyard. The girl was screaming, fighting like crazy, pulling moves she wouldn't understand until much later she shouldn't have even known… it was still useless in the end, her opponents were much too strong. Eventually she was forced onto her knees, in front of the tall figure who had the power of life and death over her; but she wasn't cowed, no, she wasn't the kind to be cowed even in the face of death… I'd never been…

I'd always knew it'd end like that. Wasn't sure why I'd never told Maverick… or perhaps he knew too and chose not to mention it. Either because he didn't want to scare me, or he just thought that as long as it wasn't mentioned, it wouldn't happen… I myself had been afraid of jinxing us if I ever brought it up; but more than that, I was afraid he'd decide to walk away, to cut all ties from me in an attempt to keep me safe. He was the kind of person who'd have done that, and it's not something I could have ever wanted. Not even as I was forced to kneel at the feet of the one man I ever found it in myself to hate: Odin Allfather, King of Asgard, and father to the most important person in my whole life…

He didn't like me. It was clear in the way he sneered at me. Like I was less simply for being a mortal girl. But I didn't not cower, even on my knees I refused to let fear control me. So I held myself as straight as I could and stared him straight in the eye.

"You're an odd little thing." He commented, almost mockingly. "So completely unafraid."

"I have nothing to fear." I replied calmly, confidently.

"Not even death?" He challenged, a hand on his sword.

"Only stupid people fear death." I replied without missing a beat.

It was the truth. While I didn't exactly wish for death (never that, I wasn't an idiot, or suicidal), I didn't fear it either. I'd been as good as dead at fourteen, would have if it hadn't been for Loki. I had come to terms with my own death a long time prior and saw no point in fearing it anymore. The one thing I never considered coming to terms with was precisely the opposite, the absence of death; immortality in the simplest of terms. But then again, that was a whole other matter.

"It goes against the rules." Odin stated in an almost pleasant voice, almost, except for the line of steel, the coldness in his every word. "You knowing all you do. All he told you."

"He told me nothing." I scoffed, unable to hold myself out. "I figured it out. It wasn't that hard."

That seemed to actually surprise him.

"Didn't you know?" I just couldn't help myself, seeing as I was already in a heck of a lot of trouble, why not challenge him? (maybe I was a bit of an idiot). "You and your people, you're way too flashy. You think that because humans live short lives we're stupid or something. But we're not. we're smart; some of us very smart even. We keep records, of things both proven to be true, and some that were believed to be so fantastical they've been relegated to fiction, called legends and myths. I always had my suspicions, my belief that at least some of them might have more truth than most would expect. And I was right."

Of course I was. It wasn't going to help me against the bastard; but then again, I didn't expect it to. I didn't exactly have high expectations about how I'd come out of that meeting, all things told. A part of me wasn't sure I'd even come out of it…

There was some great speech about mortals and our place and how unworthy we were of those like him… I wasn't really paying attention, it sounded entirely too dramatic and Shakespearean and absolutely pointless in the end. I still couldn't help but respond in the end:

"So what, you'll kill me now?" Well no, he'd probably get one of his minions (the ones who'd forced me to my knees) to do it, but the point remained.

"I won't have to." He replied with a mocking smile. "That's what you mortals do, die, and you do it all on your own."

He was right, of course, we mortals died… but I was seventeen years old, it's not like there was anything likely to kill me for at least several decades. The one thing had been taken care of three years prior. And while there was always the chance of some traffic accident, or some other freaky thing happening, it wasn't that likely… and then I heard him calling for someone, a Heimdall…

By the time my scholarly mind caught up with the rest of me, it was much too late already, the multi-colored light was all around me and I didn't even have the air needed to scream…

The Bifrost activating and seconds later deactivating brought me out of my musings. Even then, I waited for a full five minutes before stepping out of the shadow of that tree and straight onto the garden. The ground was burnt, the markings of the Aesir portal covering more than half of the garden, or the remains of what had once been a garden. Most of it had been destroyed during the fight, and by that point only a few flowery bushes remained… and a single rose. Even the lavender tree hadn't made it unscathed.

It was, all in all, a shocking picture, and a perfect demonstration of how callous certain non-humans could be. Odin and his ilk… they hadn't cared about the damage and destruction they left behind. About how people were going to react to the chaos both inside and outside the house, to the absence of one seventeen-year-old girl, or the symbols that had been burnt so deeply into the ground that even pulling out all the grass and replacing it probably wouldn't be enough.

I was still standing there, just inside the remains of a once beautiful garden (of My Garden), half-absently fingering the leather-band around my left wrist, which I knew was spelled to make sure no Asgardian would be able to detect me without my permission; when I heard them. They could be so quiet when they wanted, when they needed to, but in that moment I knew they were there, all of them, those I considered my family. Even if we weren't thus by blood, that didn't matter, they were my family in every way that counted.

"I know you're there." I said out-loud, careful to make my voice sound normal.

"Of course you know, I'd be more worried if you didn't." One of the two at the front of the small group, with dark hair, tanned skin and somewhat gruff-looking.

"It'd be understandable though." The woman by his side, all dark-hair and perfect golden skin, added for good measure.

The other two stepped forward then. So different and so similar from one another, they were the youngest, even if already adults in their own right (well, the youngest was barely one, seeing as he was all of eighteen-years-old… but still).

"We're here for you mama." The youngest was the one to speak out-loud, but I knew he did so for most of them.

"I know." I nodded.

For the longest time I said nothing at all. Just stood there, contemplating the long and complex (and more than a little insane) series of events that had brought us to where we were in that very moment. Standing in the backyard of a house I once called home, having just witnessed the event that started it all… except, for me, that had been more than a hundred years prior…

When things first happened… I didn't know when I lost consciousness exactly. Even decades later, looking back on it, all I could remember was the colors swirling around me, dizzily, a push and then, just for a moment, stars… thousand of stars shining with silvery light. Wasn't sure when I lost consciousness exactly, but I woke up to find myself being dragged onto a ship, of pirates, and definitely not Pirates-of-the-Caribbean kind of pirates. Thankfully I never had to find out the treatment they gave to women, especially women who had no way to defend themselves. The very same day the ship ran aground, forcing everyone to get working on that. I took the advantage that was presented to me, diving straight off the ship at the first opportunity; I heard the first shout against me a fraction of a second before hitting the water. While I hadn't exactly had time time to plan my escape, I was quite capable of thinking on my feet; I'd taken a big gulp of air before reaching the ocean, I also knew better than to surface right away and instead used the momentum to go deeper and move as far away from them as I could. I stayed underwater as long as I could and came out coughing and sputtering. A group was still behind me, on the small boat they'd been using to move around the ship and find a way to get free of the reef. I swam as fast as I could, but eventually it became just too much… had just caught sight of a beach when a shot hit the water but inches from my flank.

That was when things got beyond insane, I heard the unmistakable sound of an arrow sailing just above my head, followed by a short scream. That gave me a second wind, just enough to push myself all the way to the beach, then I about passed out with a mix of bone-deep exhaustion and absolute relief.

When I woke up again… that was when things got interesting…

While it would have been over-dramatic to claim I never expected to wake up again, truth was that since being forced to kneel before the Allfather I'd gotten so many shocks I just had no idea if I was alive or dead, awake or sleeping anymore. I woke up in a small room, which definitely was not an infirmary, though I certainly looked like I should be in one. I was no longer wearing the skirt and blouse I'd been in since that fateful night, instead I'd been dressed in a simple but pretty nightgown.

I wasn't a prisoner, but wasn't exactly free either. It took no time at all for my hosts to become aware that I was awake and they sent food to me, signaled me to a door that lead to a bathroom. Which immediately sent warning bells in my head, because the bathroom? Yeah, it was the kind of thing I'd have expected from Roman times or something like that. I was also provided with a change of clothes that basically consisted of an off-white linen dress with tanned leather accents and leather sandals with straps that would reach to my knees.

As soon as I was in the clothes I was escorted to another room. It took me no time to realize that all around me were women, all in leather dresses that probably doubled as armor. My ever-active mind also made the connection with one particular group that had been in my studies: the amazons. I wasn't sure if that was comforting (wherever I was, there was still some kind of connection to my home) or not (amazons were supposed to be a myth! Then again, so was my best friend in the world so…). Reaching the front my instincts immediately recognized the two women standing there as the probable leaders.

"Greetings." I spoke, in my most formal tone, and accent-less Greek, as I bowed my head to them. "You have my gratitude for your providential help. Could I know where I am?"

"Who are you?" The younger of the two presumable leaders demanded.

"Ah…" I wasn't expecting that, though I probably should have, it's not like they knew me from eve! "Silbhé, daughter of Aislinn, scholar."

"And what were you doing, Silbhé, scholar, with those men?" The same woman hissed.

She said the word 'men' like it was a curse, and a part of me began wondering how much of the old legend might be true… and how much might have actually been simplified.

"I'm afraid that wasn't of my own will, my lady." I did my best to placate her. "Circumstances drove me from my home, and an accident put me in the path of those pirates. I escaped at the first opportunity, which happened to be when they ran aground in a reef not to far from… here."

"We demand the truth!" The woman practically snarled.

I flinched, I really did, muscles locking up as I remembered the fight against Odin's minions, I still had the bruises on me. Probably would for a while.

"Bring the lasso." The woman demanded, turning to another.

The lasso turned out to be an actual lasso, couldn't call it a rope as it looked like no rope I'd ever seen, all golden and perfect. Also, I could feel its power the moment it touched me. Didn't quite understand what it was supposed to do until the questions started:

"Who are you?" This time it was the leader asking the questions, while the other held the lasso.

"Silbhé Arianna, daughter of Aislinn and Sebastian, Professor of History, Mythology and Literature." I answered evenly.

"Why were you with those men?" She asked next.

"They found me in the sea, half-drowned, rescued me, their intentions probably weren't that good." I shrugged. "I escaped the moment I got a chance."

"Where where you before those men found you?" She tried a new question.

"Home." I answered simply. "My family home."

"How did you end up at sea." She pressed on.

"No idea." I deadpanned.

"How are you lying?" She demanded.

"I'm not lying." Then, knowing she wouldn't be happy with that, I added: "You ask questions, and the magic in your lasso demands truth. I give you truth. They may not give you what you seek, but they're not lies. And before you try and get creative. If you ask me where my home is I could give you a poetic description of what I consider home, or I could get technical and give you my exact address, neither of which would help you. If you ask me how one can get here, I have no idea, because I don't even know where here is. How I got here… that one is trickier, and not something I can properly answer either because even I don't know."

"How did you get from 'home' to 'here'?" The woman stated, though there wasn't quite as much bite as before.

"A man disagreed with his son's choice of friends, meaning me." I answered as evenly as I could. "He wanted to get rid of me, called on a Rainbow Bridge, and I ended up here. How exactly I ended up here, again, I haven't the slightest idea. The Bifrost, from what my studies indicate, serves to connect realms. You… you don't fit with any of the inhabitants my studies indicate those realms would have. Then again, the books I've read could be wrong."

Or Odin could have done something entirely different when he'd called on the Bifrost and then pushed me out of the rainbow bridge itself.

"What do you want?" The woman inquired, voice almost soft all of a sudden.

I could have groaned, such an open question, all the answers I could have given her. I could have told her I wanted food, I had no idea when my last meal (before what they'd given me) had been, but I still felt hungry; I could have said I wanted to sleep, not because I was tired, but because a part of me felt so unreal with everything, I wanted to believe if I went to sleep I might then wake up back in my own home…

"I want to go home…" I admitted eventually. "But I'm not sure if that's even possible."

So I stayed. Not like I had a lot of options, but still. I knew that they didn't really trust me, the Amazons. Even when Queen Hippolyta welcomed me as a guest, anyone with eyes could see that her sister, Antiope, did not approve of me, and so no one befriended me. They fed me, and when I insisted on being useful, they gave me some tasks, so I sort-of became a maid. I did not mind the position, or the work, and at least the girls I worked with grew used enough to me that they no longer treated me like I was a leper or somewhat. I wasn't their friend, but I wasn't as unwanted anymore. It seemed like such an achievement.

And then I met Diana… or more precisely, Princess Diana… It was a disaster. The woman was so obviously older than me (by a measure of several thousands of years, if my calculations were correct) yet she acted like a child at times. Starting with her ditching her tutors to go looking for me while I was sweeping a hall to ask a hundred questions about me, my origins and my reasons for being there. Also, apparently it was all my fault, as she'd heard me singing… I'd made a point of ensuring no one heard me singing. Leaving my quarters in the middle of the night once a week or so and walking practically to the other side of the island, where I'd sing, or sometimes play the dizi (as it happened, the instrument had been in its usual, spelled bag in my jacket, and I managed not to lose it through the whole mess of those two, three days) letting out all my feelings the best way I knew how: through music.

It was supposed to be my private time, though I'd expected either the Queen or her sister to have sent someone to spy on me, to make sure I wasn't planning something nefarious. The princess… that was a whole other mess, especially because I was quite confident no one had sent her. She just seemed like the kind of person to do that, especially if someone so much as suggested she shouldn't. She was really much too childish for a grown woman.

It took her three nights (not continuous, as I never did the trek two nights in a row), before the princess finally went to me. Even then, she waited several feet away until my song came to an end. Most nights I sang old songs (for me at least), not my own, songs I'd listened to on the radio, played melodies I'd once heard in my dad's old record of the Orchestra mama had played with. That night was a rare exception, that night I was singing my own song, the last I'd composed:

"Most relationships seem so transitory

They're all good but not the permanent one"

"Who doesn't long for someone to hold

Who knows how to love you without being told

Somebody tell me why I'm on my own

If there's a soulmate for everyone"

"Who doesn't long for someone to hold

Who knows how to love you without being told

Somebody tell me why I'm on my own

If there's a soulmate for everyone

If there's a soulmate for everyone"

I let out a sigh as the song came to an end, then I just waited, and soon enough she came to me:

"Who do you sing to?" She asked me straight out.

"Those I've lost." I answered calmly.

"Why do you sing in a language that isn't your own?" She asked next.

I knew the reason for that. Since I kept speaking Greek to them, but I didn't know any songs in that language. Most of the ones I did know were in English, in fact.

"I know a lot of languages." I told her evenly. "I wouldn't call any of them my own."

"Are you always so evasive when answering?" She pressed.

"I don't see it as being evasive." I quipped, then clarified. "You ask questions, already expecting answers, but I have no obligation to answer you princess. My life is my own, and as insane as it might be, as much as this might be your home I'm an unwitting guest in, you have no right to my secrets. None of you do."

I could tell she wasn't expecting that answer. It didn't make her go away though.

Diana's visits to me changed something; I never knew exactly what, or why. But after that night more people began saying more than two words to me. Diana kept following me in the nights, and eventually I stopped going so far before singing, stopped trying to hide that part of me from the amazons… stopped trying to divide the pieces of my life.

I told Diana, and the other Amazons that began joining us after a while, my story. Piece by piece, in starts and stops. I told them about the girl born to an architect and a musician, each artists in their own right, raised by an aunt when her mother passed away and the loss hurt her father so much he kept away most of the time. Told them about the girl who was always sick, who had no friends, until one walked out of the shadows and straight into the garden. About the girl who almost died and whose life was saved by a sorcerer binding their lives together.

"He really did that?" Chrysanthe, one of the younger-seeming amazons inquired.

"Yes." I nodded.

"But," Eirenne, one no so young interjected. "I thought all men were untrustworthy, weak…"

"Not all men are like that, just like not all women can be like you." I explained calmly. "There is no perfection. He… he's my friend, and I care deeply about him. And he cared enough about me to save my life, at risk of his own. I didn't understand it then, I was much too young. I didn't realize all he'd risked, saving my life, even just by being my friend…"

The possibility of never being able to thank him for it, for saving my life, but mainly simply for having been my friend, that was one of my greatest fears.

When I told them about the day Odin Allfather had found me… I thought there would be a riot. The way they reacted, so vicious and self-righteous, for my sake alone, I was incredibly honored. I wasn't sure how it had happened exactly, but at some point I'd become one of them. They called me Aidóni, which was the Greek for Nightingale… it was Diana's idea and I liked it, a way to keep all of them as well as Loki, close to my heart.

I never did keep track of time while living in Themyscira. It was next to impossible with the way seasons just didn't seem to change there. Though, as became obvious eventually, time did pass; even if it didn't have the same meaning for amazons, immortal as they were; pass it did.

One night there was a particularly bad storm, lightning and thunder and howling winds. It got so bad that almost everyone living in the palace gathered in one of the main halls, myself included. I could see in their eyes they were all very affected by the storm, and I'd no idea why, until Xenia, one of the oldest looking amazons, explained it to me:

"Never in all our history had we suffered through a tempest such as this Aidóni." She told me. "Not in all our years in our island. This land was blessed by the gods, shielded by Zeus himself. We are meant to be safe here…"

"But that's it, don't you see?" I murmured in return, even as my mind finished making the connections. "It's the gods power that has kept you protected. And the gods are gone…"

"Their power is running out." Diana was the first to catch up to my thoughts.

"I don't think you need to worry about it all falling apart exactly, but the power has certainly lessened." I offered. "It'd explain this storm, and also how the pirates got so close."

Of course, having an idea of what was happening and why did not prevent the mess we came upon the following morning. Hippolyta had ordered everyone to check through the island, make sure everyone was alright. While there were no dead, things were messy in some places. Branches and even whole trees fallen, some had caught fire, horses and other animals that had broken through their fences in the terror of the tempest. Also, there was an old (thankfully abandoned tower) that had evidently been hit by lightning several times, it was crumbling. I warned the others about it, so no one would get too close, have it fall upon them. Of course there were those who paid no attention to me, maybe they thought I didn't know what I spoke of, or that being amazons they could handle it; and there were those who just did not receive my message in time… like Diana.

I couldn't have known if Diana would have survived that wall falling on her; in the end, it was something I just wasn't willing to risk. The moment the hard, bone-chilling crack was heard, I was already running. I ran as fast as I could, faster than I ever had before, throwing myself the last few feet, pushing Diana with all my strength and hoping it'd be enough.

I didn't feel the pain at first, not really. Eyes closed as debris and dust flew around, I coughed as the dust got in my lungs, making it harder to breath; I was only half aware when I ended spitting something, the metallic taste of blood on my tongue.

"Aidóni!" Several voices cried out all around me.

It took a little while for things to clear enough, some of the smaller rocks to be moved enough for me to see them. Diana was there, as well as Antiope and many other amazons. Some just staring at me in horror, while others were looking for a way to get the wall off me.

"Why did you do that?" Diana asked, agony in her voice.

"Do y-you even ha… have to ask?" I asked in return, coughing a bit more. "I didn't… you may not be m-my princess Diana-a. But… you're my f-friend."

Diana said nothing else, but I could see she was crying. I was having so much trouble breathing, I guessed it wouldn't be long. Even if, by some miracle, the others managed to find a way to get the freaking wall off me, I was beyond any means of healing already. And then something else occurred to me.

"D-Diana!" I cried out, going nearly hysterical. "The.. bra-bracelet!"

I knew she'd understand. She'd asked me for more than enough details in every part of my story to understand. I was dying, and I didn't want Loki to die with me. I didn't even know if it would happen; had no idea how Odin throwing me elsewhere might have affected; but considering that I was still cancer free… I'd rather not take any chances.

Diana knelt beside my extended arm and I could vaguely feel her fingers on my wrist, barely touching the cuff-bracelet. I'd begun wearing it openly since sharing my story. There was no reason to hide it, and it made me feel closer to him, much like my flute…

I could only just feel Diana pressing on the golden bracelet, probably looking for a way to break it (not like I could have given her the key, when it was was in the same bag with my flute, hanging on my opposite hip), I could only hope she had the strength for it. I wanted to tell her to hurry up, that we were running out of time (that my love, even if he'd never known he was my love, was running out of time), and then there were noises, movement. I didn't understand what was going on, until suddenly there was someone kneeling beside Diana: Queen Hippolyta.

"Diana, help me." she ordered her daughter. "Drink this child."

I was half gone already, not really seeing anything, and only half seeing as Diana did her best to raise my head, just enough for her mother to press the edge of what felt like a cup against my lips. The liquid that was tipped into my mouth was thick enough it seemed to coat the inside of my mouth before sliding down my throat, it was fragrant, and sweeter than any honey I'd ever tasted. I swallowed just once, and then it hit me what it was I was drinking, right at the same time I realized that my mind was clearing up rather than clouding further. Ambrosia…

I said nothing, having no idea what to say. All I could do was stare at Queen Hippolyta. I had a feeling a lot was going to change…

I was right. A lot did change. While no official ceremonies or anything of the like ever took place, from that day on I was considered as the Queen's adopted daughter, Diana's younger sister. When I asked Antiope why they'd done it I was told that they believed I was meant to be family. The way Diana and I had connected… she might have friends in many of the other amazons, but none had she ever been as close to, as she was to me. Also, apparently I tempered the princess, she seemed to be less inclined to do crazy things since I was around. While I wasn't sure how much I believed the latter, I agreed we were close. I was honored to join their family.

The ambrosia changed more things than I ever expected. It wasn't just the immortality, though that was a given (and for the first time since waking up among pirates, I had hope that one day I might find my way back to Loki…). I had always been a sensitive child; the day I'd first met Loki, I told him I knew when someone was good or bad, I'd always seen it as instincts. As I grew up, that 'instinct' had grown, and knowing magic and gifts were real I had indeed considered the possibility that I might be gifted, if only a little… I had no idea how big a thing that empathy could be until after I drank the ambrosia. And it didn't stop there.

It happened slowly, almost in stages. First was the empathy. Then one day I found myself healing one of the girls after she slipped during sword practice and ended with a deep slash on one arm. The strangest thing of all though, was that I didn't even feel surprised at being able to do that. It was something new, and yet at the same time it didn't feel new at all. As if a part of me had always known I was supposed to do that. The final part, was the magic. I was quite sure it was Loki's magic. And it wasn't easy for me to do it. I didn't know if it was being in a different world or the fact that it just wasn't mine. At least I managed to teach myself how to call on a shield, a shockwave, and short-distance teleporting.

I trained as a warrior at Antiope's insistence. We had a bit of a hard time at first, because I just did not have the instincts of a warrior. It was next to impossible to get me to attack. I could defend just fine, but attack… that was another matter entirely. Until the day Antiope turned abruptly in the last moment and moved against Diana (who was already finished with her training and taking a breath). My reaction was instinctive then, as I pulled the closest short blade and threw it at Antiope. The knife went through her hand, the pain forcing her to drop her sword. I was shocked, completely aghast by the whole thing, she was proud. And so I trained.

I never knew exactly how long I spent in Themyscira. Much as I might miss my home, much as I wanted to see my family, to see Loki again, to reassure them all that I was alright… I liked the island, the amazons were my friends, and Diana, Hippolyta and Antiope part of my family. And then a man crash-landed less than a mile from our beach…

In the time (the years, decades) that I'd been in Themyscira I somehow managed to forget how insane things could get; how quickly things could happen, how fast time could pass. Then there was that war-plane crashing into the sea, Diana leaping off a cliff to save the pilot, over half a dozen boats, each full of armed soldiers, following, reaching the island! The battle began before I could quite comprehend what was going on, and then there was no time to do anything other than shoot arrow after arrow and focus on not-thinking about the men that were quite probably dying by those very same arrows (at least I'd never have to know for sure how many I killed, since I was not the only one shooting arrows at them).

I didn't realize it when the first of the amazons fell, not really. I did notice when Antiope fell though, to a bullet that had been meant for Diana. I was on the move even before anyone thought to call for me. Getting the bullet out was a gritty, awful thing, but it was necessary. The healing wasn't absolute, it couldn't be, but it was enough for her to survive.

The man… Steve Trevor, his name was Steve Trevor. His interrogation reminded me powerfully of my own, however many years prior. The way he fought against the lasso… the amazons saw an unworthy man wanting to lie, I saw an honorable man fighting to keep secrets he believed his life depended on. And then he mentioned the war. World War I… Stars!

In all the years since Odin had pushed me out of the Bifrost I'd stopped to consider where exactly I was in relation to my home a great many times. I was usually inclined to believe I had fallen into a parallel world; not one of the Nine Realms themselves, but some smaller world, dimension or whatever where the Greek/Roman pantheon was (or had been) more than a myth. It never, not for one second, occurred to me that I might be in my world, only in a different time, in the past… Of course, just Trevor mentioning the war was no guarantee that it was my world; for all I knew it could still be a parallel world, just one that was more similar to mine than expected and yet… after getting the idea into my head, I just couldn't let it go.

Of course Diana wanted to go with him, to 'Man's World' and help with the war. So convinced she was that Ares was the reason of it all… and while I wouldn't say that couldn't be true, I did believe her notion that the whole war would end, that peace would be ensured just by killing Ares, I thought that idea was naive at best, dangerous at worst. So of course I was going with her (and while the possibility of finding my way home, eventually, was an incentive, Diana was the main reason for my choice).

Hippolyta wasn't surprised at all by my choice. She just smiled at me as I packed a couple of changes of clothes, including my actual battle armor (it was different from what the amazons wore, as I preferred clothes that covered me more, but still), my bow and arrows and a short sword (which I didn't like much, but was a last resource).

"I will look after her." I promised her.

"Make sure you look after yourself too." She stated softly but seriously.

Trevor didn't say a word when I joined them in the little boat. I probably wasn't the kind of back-up he was expecting. Anyone could see I didn't have the physical strength and endurance of the amazons. But he'd seen me save Antiope (even if he hadn't the slightest idea how I'd done it) and it was obvious that they needed all the help they could help. So he just thanked me and we were on our way.

London was… it was both better and worse than I expected. It was one more mark to my possibly truly being in my world, even if way out of my time; which wasn't as huge an obstacle when I was, for all intents and purposes, immortal (I still had trouble getting my head around that some times). I helped Trevor and Miss Candy get both Diana and myself into appropriate clothes, and I could tell they were both confused, even if the latter was more confused by Diana's total lack of knowledge about some things, while the former was more confused by my own ease with handling the same things. It was almost funny, might have been funny if the war hadn't been raging and we didn't have a mission to get to.

I knew something was off with Mr. Morgan since the moment we met. There was just… he felt off, in a way I couldn't quite explain. It wasn't darkness, not exactly, but just being too close to him made it so I thought I could smell an almost sickening mix of blood and sulfur…

The second time I surprised Trevor was when people just kept seemingly not-noticing me. He only noticed it the third or so time it happened. When he'd to repeat the story he'd made up about Diana 'Prince' being his secretary; and then he realized no one was asking about me, that no one seemed to even notice me. He demanded if I was making myself invisible, to which I just had to laugh, before explaining to him I wasn't doing anything of the sort. I just… I was small, and wore plain clothes, it was easy for people to overlook me. He'd have done the same if he hadn't first seen me on that beach in Themyscira, as a warrior.

The trip to the Western Front was somewhat less dangerous than I expected it to be, and yet at the same time a lot more depressing. Of the many things I knew (had read) about war, none of the books, none of the scholars had even conveyed the amount of sadness, of depression, of outright desolation to be found in, or that close, to a battlefield. Then we reached No-Man's-Land.

Our tread through that particular battlefield was an event that would probably be remembered by everyone who'd been present. I almost laughed, because I remembered reading accounts of it, so varying, and some that seemed so ludicrous… even knowing gifted existed, what some said had happened in that place, on that day, didn't seem quite possible. Until I found myself right there, being part of one piece of history I had never fully believed.

Veld… Veld was a walking contradiction. A war had been taking place there (or close enough for it to amount to the same) for years, and it was obvious, in the buildings, the people, the lack of resources. And yet the people were so kind, so willing to share what little they had with us. They called us heroes, and I just didn't think we deserved it, a thought I knew the others shared. So I did my best, if not to earn it, at least to give as much as we were being given. I methodically went through the whole village, healing everyone I could. Everything from scratches and bruises, to badly healed wounds, even some sicknesses. It wasn't perfect, I couldn't heal everything, but even then, I did all I could, until I could stand no more and fell asleep on the closest bed.

The downside to that being that I didn't wake up until more than twelve hours later, and since I'd spent more than half the night going from house to house healing that was very late indeed. I wasn't surprised at all to learn that the others had left me behind. Trevor and Diana… they were each so hyper-focused on their missions, he didn't think I'd be useful, while she probably didn't want me in danger; and neither of them stopped to consider what I'd feel being left behind. Though as it happens, in the end I felt nothing except, perhaps, relief.

I sensed it. The moment everything went wrong I knew. I could sense Diana's mix of anger, fear that was even then moving onto terror, desperation… regardless of how far we might be from each other. We were family, I could always connect with her. I had no idea what was going on exactly, but my instincts were screaming at me to run, so I ran, and I made sure everyone in Veld ran with me. Never knew how I managed it exactly; but somehow I managed to convince people that something was most definitely wrong. In any other situation that kind of response, people being willing to drop everything, to abandon what little they owned, their very homes, to follow me just because I told them they needed to… it would have floored me. When it was all said and done it certainly humbled and honored me at the same time. In that moment all I could feel was relief. Especially after I got myself a horse and made my way back, to find Veld covered in a cloud of orange smoke that burned me even with the ambrosia making me more than human.

By the time I made it to the military base, and specifically the airstrip, things were so far out of control that for a moment I hadn't the slightest idea what to do. Diana was fighting Ares (who happened to be Mr. Morgan, I'd known there was something off about him!) and I knew there was nothing I could do to help her; immortal or not, they were so far out of my league it wasn't funny. Trevor… Steve's (he'd insisted I call him Steve while in Veld) friends were in the process of blowing up the factory. I was considering helping with that, when my eyes turned to the war-plane taking-off, and I sensed Steve right there… I had no idea back then how it had happened, how I could suddenly sense Steve like that. I just knew I could, and the fact that he was on that plane… I just knew something was off. So I didn't even stop to think about it, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, throwing myself onto the plane at the very last second. When Steve finally realized I was there (by which time we were several thousand feet off the ground, and still going up), he definitely didn't like it.

"What are you doing here?!" He demanded, harshly.

"I could ask you the same question, but I've a feeling I already know the answer." I answered in my most deadpan tone.

"You cannot be here Aidóni." His tone changed to tired.

"Yet here is where I am." I replied calmly, then added for good measure: "I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself Steve. You're not doing that to yourself; but especially, you're not doing that to Diana. I refuse to allow it."

Some people had such a romanticized idea of sacrifice… they thought that because they did it for love it was alright, but what about that very person (or people) they loved? The ones they were leaving behind… did they really think their loved ones would be happy afterwards? I knew Diana wouldn't be; because in that moment, standing before Steve Trevor, I understood with perfect clarity why I could suddenly sense his emotions so clearly. It was only supposed to be like that with family and… well, he was family, after all. He was bound to my sister!

"What can you possibly do?" He asked, he sounded so tired, so hopeless…

I didn't even think about it, as I laid two fingers on his neck I sent him hope, acceptance, faith. And he took the emotions in, made them his own. He had to have known I was doing something but he didn't reject it, in fact, he embraced it completely.

"You get this plane high enough that the gas won't be a danger to anyone down there. We make sure it'll blow up and then I'll make sure we get back down in one piece." I stated.

"What, like you'll magic us down there?" He snorted.

"Something like that." I replied, very blasé.

It was funny because, he'd seen me fight, and he'd seen me heal, yet it probably had never occurred to him that that wasn't the extent of my abilities.

So I waited for him to declare we were high enough, prayed that I wouldn't get us (or him) killed by teleporting that long distance. Waited until the exact moment when he shot the canisters with the gas, and then 'flipped the switch' on the magic. It was insane, because I really couldn't teleport that kind of distance, so instead I teleported us to the middle of the sky, twice, before we finally landed on the ground. We both fell in a tangle of limbs the moment we reached the ground and I wasn't sure if Steve was about to throw up on me or scream my ear off for subjecting him to that. In the end he did neither. Instead he laughed, a laugh that was loud, long and bordering on hysteria; which was only broken when he began coughing instead. Then I was the one laughing at him. Diana found us like that, right after defeating Ares. She clearly had no idea what could possibly be so funny, but just the fact that we were all alive, that Steve had survived, was probably enough for her for the time being.

Then something went wrong, because of course something always has to go wrong. It wasn't evident right away. With everyone so busy with the armistice and the end of the war there was no way for us to get back to London anytime fast. Also, Diana just wanted so much to help, and Steve wasn't one to tell her no. So we took our time, stopping in every town in our way, helping all we could, anyway we could. It wasn't a bad thing, so many people needed so much help, and while we couldn't help everyone with everything, there were some for whom our mere presence seemed to already be making such a difference. One woman actually tried to explain it to me, said that we brought with us hope, and sometimes that was enough.

We had just reached Calais, where we would be getting passage into England, when Steve cried out in pain. It was Diana who first saw the chemical burns. Apparently the skin of his hands, neck and face had been reddened for a couple of days, tender, but they never expected that. The moment I saw him I knew exactly what it was and I couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to me before. I knew history! I knew about the mustard gas! The thing the freaking plane we'd blown up (or, technically, he'd blown up) was carrying. But I was alright, and it somehow never occurred to me to think that he might not be.

I got to healing him immediately, and after some efforts the chemical burns gave way. It was when he began coughing, spitting blood, that we realized the gas had burned more than just his skin. I couldn't heal his lungs. That kind of thing… it was too delicate and too serious a job for my magic. I healed by picturing how things must be, and things like skin, muscles and even bones were easy enough. Internal organs? Not so much. I wasn't a doctor, not even a nurse, so I didn't have even the most basic knowledge of how things should be, and even if I'd had it there was no guarantee that would have been enough.

When the idea finally came to me, the third night in Calais, I couldn't imagine why I hadn't thought of it before. It was the middle f the night and I woke up for no apparent reason. Even the constant pain both Steve and Diana were feeling, each in their own way, wasn't enough to wake me up. But right then I did. My hand reached for my flute automatically, hoping some music might help clear my head.

As we'd discovered after a wall had fallen on me, the bag was spelled, it was how my black jade dizi managed to survive that mess. Only when I slipped my hand inside, the first thing my fingers touched wasn't the stone flute, but instead something else: a phial. I pulled it out automatically. It was made completely of gold, spelled so only Queen Hippolyta or I could open it; we were also probably the ones who knew that phial existed, what its contents were, and who it was that had it, exactly.

The moment I fully comprehended everything I was on the move. We were staying in a small, abandoned cottage the people in the town had granted us use of after we'd helped as many of them as we could. Diana was up on her feet the moment I slipped into the room but I paid her no heed, instead I went straight to where Steve was trying (and failing) to get some sleep. I dropped to my knees beside the bed, lifting his head carefully and pressing the opened phial to his lips.

"Drink this." Was all I told him.

A credit to his trust in me, he didn't question what it was I was giving him, he drank it. Then he smiled briefly at me, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

"What was that?" Diana asked, a mix of confusion and hope in her voice. "What did you just give him Aidóni?"

"A gift that was mine to give." I whispered, mostly to myself. "Ambrosia."

From the beginning, the amazons had had just enough ambrosia for two people. Hippolyta had explained it to me. She hadn't known who it was meant for, just that she'd know when the time came. And indeed, she had known, as I'd laid there, my body broken underneath the fallen wall. So she'd given me one of the doses, and then sealed the other and gave me the phial. She'd meant it to be for my love (all the amazons were convinced that Loki was, indeed, my love, despite the fact that we'd never kissed, never even confessed our feelings and, insane as it might seem, I couldn't help but believe the same). But Loki did not need ambrosia, he was immortal enough on his own. I had told the Queen that, to which she said it was still meant for me, my gift alone to give to whom I may… and I'd made my choice that night. Or who knew? Perhaps I'd made it from the very moment I realized Diana and Steve were bound, even if I didn't acknowledged it until that very night.

In the morning Steve was healed, he was also immortal.

We were, finally, on the ship back to England, when I could hold back no more. So much had happened; and while we all had been so completely focused on Diana and Steve; with that mess passed, I couldn't but think about me, and about the world around me. I wasn't sure how I was suddenly so confident about it, but in that moment I had no doubt that I was, in fact, in my own world. I was on Earth, in my own universe; granted, almost a century in the past, but thanks to Hippolyta's gift, I could work around that. Which meant that I was going to find my way back to Loki, even if I had to take the long road there! The emotions that conviction brought with it… they were so much I couldn't even touch anyone, afraid as I was to force those emotion upon them, but I couldn't just hold them in either, so I needed another outlet. I didn't realize it until after I'd already begun; the fact that I was singing a new song for the first time since that night:

"I'll find my way back

Into the dark to chase your heart

No distance could ever tear us apart

There's nothing that I wouldn't do

I'll find my way back to you"

"There's nothing that I wouldn't do

I'll find my way back to you

I'll find my way back to you

I'll find my way back"

I sensed them even before I finished singing but I paid them no heed, I just… I needed to let it all out, so I did that. I sang and sang, weaving my emotions: my grief, my hope, my love, into every single word, every piece of the melody. And once it was over, it was like I could finally breathe…

"You have quite the gifted voice, little goddess." Chief commented, almost offhandedly, as he looked at me.

I was sure I wasn't imagining the double-meaning in his words, but either no one else had noticed, or they simply didn't care about it. In the end I pushed it aside, if it mattered, it'd come up at some point.

It did end up mattering, though not as much as some might have expected. Chief being different in his own way didn't really affect us much. Though he did gift me a beautiful Blackfoot copper knife, which I always kept in a hidden sheathe down the length of my back, for emergencies. It was spelled to be forever sharp, undetectable, and once Chief bound it to me it could never be used against me; and an armband, to shield me from prying eyes.

Upon our return to London we found out that Miss Candy (Etta, she insisted that I call her that) had been very busy, making arrangements for Diana and I to have new identities; and while she kept the name Steve had first called her: Diana Prince, I became Aidóni Morgan, Sir Patrick's daughter and heiress… I would have been horrified, but Etta's and Steve's (who'd been the one to have the idea, in fact) logic was sound not only in that I needed an identity, but we could very well use Sir Patrick's considerable resources; it's not like he'd need them anymore. It was justice, of a sort. In the end it was something we could live with. It's not like anyone expected me to talk about my 'father', as they all believed me to have been living with my mother; also I managed to convince them to make Diana into my older half-sister, which reinforced her own identity and justified us being so close.

It surprised absolutely no one when Diana gave birth to hers and Steve's daughter less than a year after the end of the war. They called her Hippolyta (Lyta for short). They were already married by then and we were all living in what had been Morgan's townhouse in downtown London. Diana and I got jobs in the library as translators (the people there loved us and how many languages we knew), while Steve was technically still in the army but wasn't active anymore, instead he would teach young soldiers to be pilots. Charlie had been officially discharged and returned to his native Scotland, where he eventually found a good woman, married her and had two children with her, a boy and a girl. Sameer got his dream to be an actor, he married a gorgeous woman called Jasmine and had three daughters with her. Etta was already married, and we got to meet her husband: and daughter, and the three children that came in the following years. Chief… he went back to his wanderings, first through Europe than back to America, he was happier that way.

Perhaps the greatest shock I got in those years was when Etta's youngest child: Eileen, married none other than August Salani, to later on become parents to two children: Kathryn and Sebastian. The world was so small…

In between all that, we went through a second war. That… it broke us in many ways. First there was Diana's denial. Even if we'd made her understand that just killing Ares wasn't enough, that not all people were good, and all that… she still couldn't understand why some people just seemed to want to kill others. For that matter, neither did I. I knew it happened, of course I did, I was a historian, after all. But that didn't mean I could understand what could possibly be going through some people's heads to do things like that (and I hoped I never would).

We didn't want to get involved, not in any of it, not at first. And then Lyta went and became a nurse. She didn't leave England, but still, she was a part of things. The rest of us just followed her after that. I actually took the same training she did and became a nurse, using my gifts where I could without calling too much attention. Steve and Diana… they went to France and joined a group of 'freedom fighters'. They helped spy on the Nazis, and aided fleeing Jews where they could. Even our friends, who were no longer up to actually joining a war, helped save Jews where they could. Together all of us we managed to save a great many lives.

It didn't change all the people that died. And even if it was true we just couldn't save everyone. It was bad. Diana had actually been to a concentration camp; she was so furious she brought the whole place down, while Steve helped the innocents escape. They never talked about the things they saw there, but I knew they were bad. So much that once the war was over the two of them basically withdrew from society.

They left me. I don't think they realized it at the time, and I don't really blame them. Diana was so deeply into despair after what they'd witnessed, and Steve just wanted to help her get better. Lyta was making a life for herself, studying to become a full-fledged nurse. Our friends all had their lives and I… I was a grown woman who was supposed to be in her forties yet didn't look it. Who had no idea what to do with her life. Yes, I knew where I wanted to be eventually, and who I wanted to be with, but I had no idea what to do until we got to that point…

So I left London and began wandering, first through Europe, but the devastation from the war… while I liked helping people, so much damage everywhere wasn't helping me move on from all the darkness, the despair, the horror I'd felt (both my own and of others). So I traveled all the way to Spain and caught the first ship to America.

It was there that I met a young Lillian Arlene Solomon. She was an heiress to a rich family, and like many in her position, she was almost always alone. Later down the line I could never remember when or even how exactly we became friends. I knew she was intrigued by me. She wanted to be an artist and was always dropping by the art-school in Metropolis where I gave music classes to some students.

I didn't have a very strong identity back then, going by Eos Arienne Ross. I had no idea where Lillian had gotten me legal papers, or why exactly she'd decided to change my name to Eos Arienne Solomon. I cared for her though, so I did not try that hard to stop her. She was nothing like Diana, but still like a sister to me; she was family, and I needed that so much at the time…

Lily and I came to care deeply for each other through the years, we also understood each other and rarely argued. Oh, we had our difference of opinion, but it rarely got to the point of us actually fighting about it. Lionel Luthor was one such reason. I didn't like him. The man was… wrong, there was a darkness in him that I hadn't felt the likes of since the war, and that alone was enough to send all kind of red-flags up in my mind. But Lily loved him… no matter how much I might insist, she was young and in love.

Lionel tried to send me away once. Told me that if I wasn't going to support them then I could very well walk away. He tried to make it sound like I was hurting Lily by being there yet not supporting her choices, yet I knew there was more. So I told Lionel, very clearly, where he could take that idea. He never actually tried to threaten me, I could tell he wanted to, he'd made more than one veiled comment about my secretive past. He knew I wasn't really a Solomon, but he did not know just where I came from… he didn't like that. Not knowing things, not being able to control things completely; he hated it. I didn't care.

Alexander… he was probably the best thing that ever happened, in my life, in all our lives. He was such a perfect baby… Lionel was such a bastard to him, which didn't surprise me at all. Still, Lily made me the boy's godmother, so I did my best to be there for him, for both of them. I would never know if Lily really was in that much denial about Lionel for forever, or if she just didn't know how to get out of a very bad situation. She kept trying to get the man to be more interested in his son, to the point of pushing him to take Lex with him to Smallville one day. She regretted it hours later, when we heard about the meteor shower that had just struck that very town…

Lex survived the meteor shower, thank the stars; but he did not do so unscathed. He no longer had asthma, which was very surprising, though I managed to convince both him and Lily not to let Lionel in on that fact. Didn't want to think what a bastard like him might do, even to his own son. Also, Lex had lost all of his hair… it was heartbreaking, to see Lex bend at the bullying, from both those at his school, and at times even Lionel himself.

It all came to a head in '92. Things kept deteriorating between Lionel and Lily, something I didn't even believe was possible. Lily was heavily pregnant with her second child, and the way the two of them kept fighting… I was afraid something might happen to both her and the baby so I did my best to stay close, while at the same time protecting Lex from the whole thing. The last one wasn't that hard, with him being at boarding-school for most of the year. Lex had made me promise to protect his mom, something that had been completely unnecessary as I was already going to do exactly that… still. I understood why he did it.

"If I leave Lionel, will you help me keep the boys safe?" Laura asked me.

I was in the study, looking through a translation one last time before sending it in. I'd begun doing some freelance translating work to earn more money. It's not like I was poor, but I'd rather be ready. Still, Lily suddenly entering the room and saying that… it caught me so much by surprise I needed a few seconds to believe that she'd really said what I thought she'd said.

"I will protect you all." I assure her.

So we packed our bags and left. The Solomons had passed away years prior, the townhouse was in Lily's name, and she'd made sure Lionel couldn't claim it (she'd pretty much twisted the pre-nup he wanted her to sign into something that would protect her own fortune just as much, making her children her heirs with me as executor). Lionel was away on business, probably had no idea of what was going on until he got the divorce papers. Then things went insane.

When Lionel went to 'talk' to Lily I let him in begrudgingly. They ended having an argument so bad Lily almost had a miscarriage. I practically kicked him out of the house then. Things only got worse from there. Lionel didn't try again himself, but he didn't give up either. He refused to give Lily the divorce and threatened to take the children from her. The whole thing escalated when Lily in turned threatened to accuse him of murder; the murders of Robert and Laura Queen, to be precise. It was then that Lionel sent mercenaries after us, and I was forced to put them down forcefully. Which in turn called the attention of the Justice Society of America and eventually of my own siblings.

It was Steve himself (by then going by the name of Stefan Rockwell) who found the missing piece of evidence so Lionel could be charge by the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Queen. It was also enough to open an investigation over the deaths of his parents (unsurprisingly, he ended being responsible for those too). Diana of course had followed Steve, and while Lyta was still doing her own thing in Europe, they had another child, a girl in her late teens called Helena. I couldn't believe I'd missed so much, the birth and almost twenty years in the life of my niece… and yet I couldn't regret walking away. I had needed to, at the time. Only… I never expected to be gone for so long, it had been almost fifty years! Being immortal was really messing with the way I viewed time. To the point that I didn't realize until that very moment that my younger self had been born months earlier; I was so close to my goal, and I hadn't even noticed…

"Thanks for coming." I whispered after it was all said and done, the divorce through, Lionel in prison (where he'd be staying for the rest of his not-so-long life) and Julian had just been born.

"Of course we came, why wouldn't we come?" Diana scoffed right then.

Steve got it though.

"You're still family Aidóni." He murmured, a hand on my shoulder. "I… I know we made mistakes, when we left you..."

"No!" I shook my head emphatically. "I don't blame you for that. I never could. You did what you had to, to get better. As did I."

"We should have been there for you." Steve insisted.

"There's nothing you could have done for me." I tried to be kind, yet firm at the same time. "You were hurting, both of you. You needed to find a way to get better yourselves. And I needed to do the same. Perhaps it was not the best way, but it worked out in the end. Also… I cannot regret it. If things hadn't been the way they were I might have never ended here, never met Lily, and Lex and baby Julian… I could never regret any of them."

"Well," Diana decided to get things back on track. "Introduce us to this family of yours then."

Lily died in the spring of 1993. It didn't take any of us by surprise, not really. She'd been sick for months by then, since shortly after Julian's birth. She made sure the boys would go into my custody, and since we already shared the same surname (and legally I was Lily's sister), it was easy enough.

I was technically also in charge of Lillian's burgeoning company: Solomon Pharmaceuticals. They specialized in medical research and seeking FDA approval of certain rare drugs. I knew nothing about medicine, or chemistry, so I found someone and put him in charge instead, until Lex was the right age to take over (if that was something he wanted to do, I'd never force him).

In 1996 I got the chance to pay back the favor the JSA had done for me when helping with the mercenaries Lionel had sent after us, by being in just the right place, at the right time. I managed to help deliver the baby of one of them, as well as save the mother from bleeding out.

Lex never called me anything other than Aunt Eos, and I respected that, I'd never want to take Lily's place in his heart. But for Julian… Lily had died before he was even a year old, I was the only mother he'd ever known, and he called me that. Though Lex and I made sure he knew who Lillian had been, and how much she'd loved him (Lionel could be forgotten, scratched from history, as far as we were all concerned).

In 2001 Lex graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double Major in Chemistry and Admin. We spent the summer, all of us, having the time of our lives, traveling the world. Steve and Diana were with us too; Helena had since married and even had a daughter of her own: Cassie. When summer ended we all had to go back to our real lives. Diana and Steve were still taking time for themselves, having recently dropped out of their previous identities and picked up new ones; this time as Esteban and Diane Burke. Julian (age nine) was going back to school, while Lex decided to dive straight in and take over SP. The main HQ were right there in Metropolis, in the top floor of what had once been the Luthor Corp building (most of which had been subleased to other companies); yet Lex soon decided he wanted to be where things were actually happening, so near the end of the first week of October, he left for Smallville…

Smallville… was a mess not a single one of us could have ever prepared for. Just on the very first day Lex got into such trouble that I could hardly believe it. He hadn't even made it to the town itself when he went off a bridge and almost drowned! It all went downhill from there. More than once I considered straight out moving into Smallville to keep a closer eye on things, Julian was all for it in fact, but I didn't want it to seem like I didn't trust him, so in the end I didn't.

I was there for him when that freaky bitch, black-widow wanna-be tried to manipulate him into marrying her and then getting rid of him. I was also there for him, if in a different manner, when another woman sought him, seduced him, and then it was revealed she wanted him for money and status, rather than for him (Julian had been the one to discover that, entirely by accident).

I knew, almost from the start, that there was something very wrong with Smallville, Kansas. The kind of things that happened in that town. I hadn't the slightest idea how no one realized it, not even SHIELD. My only consolation was that at some point Steve had managed to convince Lex to hire him; he acted mainly as his driver/bodyguard; the fact that he could also pilot any kind of aircraft being a bonus. Diana took position as his PA, though she stayed in Metropolis most of the week, taking care of things there, before heading to Smallville for the weekends. That gave me some breathing room, knowing Lex had some backup whenever things went crazy (because as it happened, the crazy happened half the time around him, and if he wasn't the reason, Lex's new best friend: Clark Kent, was). Of course I knew Clark Kent was… different. But as long as he didn't hurt my family, I had no reason to hurt him. I had nothing against him being… whatever he might be (which, as we'd eventually find out, was way beyond anything any of us could have ever imagined possible).

I would never know when exactly Clark Kent trusted Lex enough to tell him the truth about himself, his origins. Lex was too good a friend, too loyal to ever betray such a confidence, and I was glad for that, for both of them. Eventually I was brought in though, and I was glad for that too, for the team, the extended family that was slowly forming all around us. It reminded me a bit about the team we'd had back in the war (the first war); war might not have brought us together, but the bonds were just as tight, and they all went around Clark and Lex, they were as good as brothers (Julian definitely loved that, had no compunction about claiming Clark as a brother too, and everyone else along with him).

It all came to a head mid-May of 2005. The Stones of Power had been gathered. It was Lex's idea to call us to be there when they were united, in case something happened. And Clark trusted him enough to agree. And so we gathered in a secret chamber of the Kawatche caves: Clark, Lex, Chloe Sullivan (at her own insistence), Patricia Swann (heiress of Virgil Swann and, along with Lex, all that was left of the secret society known as Veritas), and myself. Diana and Steve were keeping watch outside; things had apparently been very tense the last few months, since the Teagues' arrival to town. It had been one hell of a mess I knew very little of until it was all said and done, but it apparently had ended with the son dead (he'd been trying to kill Lex and Patricia just like, apparently, he and his mom had been involved with her father's death, and Lionel's -in prison-). Clark had gotten there just in time to save Lex and Trish, leaving Jason to his fate. Genevieve had gone nuts when finding out, roaring all kinds of threats against everyone, which got her arrested. Diana and Steve were there in case she managed to escape; the woman was beyond obsessed with the kryptonian artifacts.

We knew something was going to happen when the Stones were united. Being transported to the Arctic and watching the fused kryptonian crystal burrow itself into the ice and snow only to have an ice and crystal rise… that still took us by surprise. And then came the sociopathic AI… Clark had warned us all, about how his father, or the remains of him, was completely insane, bent on him becoming a conqueror, which Clark wanted nothing to do with. We knew all that, and were at least somewhat prepared for what he/it might have to say… it still didn't stop the reactions from all of us, especially my own.

"Kal-El… you have traveled far…" a disembodied voice began, then… then it seemed to notice us, and its voice changed completely. "Humans have no place in this sanctuary Kal-El! This is your home, the last peace of the great Krypton and humans are lesser beings who do not deserve to set foot on it. Our heritage is…"

It wasn't even just the voice, frigid winds were all around, Chloe was curled up around herself, as closely pressed to Clark as she could. Trish was on the floor, shaking, with Lex trying to cover her and himself at the same time. Seeing them, I snapped.

"Is nothing, nothing at all without us humans!" I snarled at him.

"You dare speak to me?!" His voice sounded so pedantic…

"I dare do that, and so much more." I retorted. "I am the Nightingale, I may be human but I certainly have more honor than you do. You're dead! Or your template is dead, whichever! It's thanks to humans that this piece of Krypton has survived, that it was recovered, that your son lives even now. And you dare see humans as less! You would be nothing if it weren't for humans. Not even a memory, because there would be no one to carry that memory, no one to have to put up with you so I hope you get your bloody circuits straight and start thinking before spouting such stupid bullshit!" I took a breath and then added. "Now stop with the frigging winds before I take this whole place down and make you."

I was bluffing, but the AI… computer… memory… whichever, couldn't have known that.

The winds stopped, and not only that, but the temperature rose enough that we weren't all in danger of getting frostbite anymore.

"That was…" Chloe coughed a bit as she straightened up, looking straight at me. "That was totally awesome Miss Solomon."

"Eos, just call me Eos." I answered kindly.

"You claimed your name to be Nightingale." The AI spoke loudly.

"Throughout the years I've had many names." I answered serenely. "They all mean the same thing: Nightingale."

They did too: Aidóni, Rossignol, Slavik, Solovey, Yeying, Philomela, Eos… I'd had all those names, or variations of them, and they all, indeed, meant the same in the end: nightingale. The name Loki had given me once. It was my tether as much as the memory of him was.

"The Historian." Jor-El called me.

"What…?" It's not that I didn't know what a historian was, I technically was one. Still, I had a feeling that Jor-El meant something different; and I was right.

"What are you planning this time Jor-El?" Clark sounded just as doubtful as I felt.

"You've refused my guidance before Kal-El…" The AI/Jor-El began.

"Because you insist on me being a conqueror, and I have no interest in that." Clark retorted. "I want to help, not rule. This is my life, they should be my choices."

"And they shall be." Jor-El's reply surprised us all. "Lady Nightingale is right, in my insistence to make of you what I believed you needed to be I've hurt you, I've dishonored the choice my own template, the real Jor-El, made when he decided to send you not just to this planet, but to the Kents in the very first place. I shall force your hand no longer."

"Thank you." It was clear Clark had no idea what else to say.

"Forget not Kal-El, you may live among humans, but you're not one of them." Jor-El insisted. "There are things you need to know, of your past, of your history. To learn all that, you will need more than just recordings, you will need a Historian."

"That's what you called me…" I murmured, beginning to understand.

"You're more than human." The being turned his attention onto me. "You could endure a download. Receive the information, and then impart it upon my son… and those of his friends who might wish to learn."

"Why not use this download on him?" I was curious about that.

"Because he doesn't understand the intricacies of history the way you do." It almost sounded like the AI was complimenting me; I wasn't sure if that was good, or creepy.

"What does that mean?" Clark and Chloe asked almost at the same time.

"History… many try to simplify it, but it's not just about what happened." I tried my best to explain. "It goes beyond 'versions' of things. Because, there are always different versions of any given event; and they're all right and they're all wrong, because they're shaped by the person who experienced them. We all could write a chronic of what's happening right now and we'd end up with five different versions of the exact same event. That's the point of history. It's not about who's right and who's wrong, but learning to understand the intricacies of it, the way all the pieces fit together into a much more complex whole."

"That is correct." Jor-El sounded definitely approving.

"I'll do it." I decided abruptly, not giving myself time to reconsider or doubt myself. "I'll be your Historian Jor-El."

And so my life changed… again.

Having the whole history of a race pretty much pushed into my head wasn't exactly a walk in the park. And granted, I didn't actually get the whole history 'downloaded' into my brain or anything. It was more like… a guideline, in order for me to be able to go through the actual records in the Fortress and better understand them, so I might teach them to Clark, and whoever else might want to learn (Chloe and Lex for sure).

The funny thing was, it wasn't Jor-El who actually made me the Historian, I'd already used that title before, with some people I'd met through the years; I'd always call myself Nightingale, and tell them I was a Historian. Jor-El's actions just seemed to make it all the more official.

It took a while, but eventually I had the great honor of watching Lex, the boy who was as much my son as if I'd given birth to him, child of the second woman I'd come to see as a sister, marry the love of his life: Trish Swann. Both of them also came to be closely connected to a new team of superheroes, born from the remains of the JSA, the kryptonians (we found Clark's cousin, Kara Zor-El months after the Fortress was formed), and a group of metas from Smallville and other places across the country: the Justice League. Julian even managed to convince Steve to teach him how to pilot so he could get involved as well.

Then came early summer of 2009… the day everything had begun, and ended.

xXx

At first I didn't say a word, just walked across the half-destroyed garden. I took a moment to imagine exactly what would happen if I didn't intervene. Aunt Kathryn would go ballistic the moment she arrived to find that mess, SHIELD would end up involved sooner or later. And the world so wasn't ready for that. I wasn't sure when, if ever, they'd be. It had been different during the war, both with us, and with the other group, during WWII, the one lead by the man they called Captain America… during war people didn't ask too many questions, not when you were saving their lives. Also, Odin. While I knew I'd have to face him one day, that wouldn't be yet. Not until I'd found Loki, which probably wouldn't be easy considering what the bastard had already done to keep us apart, but I wasn't the kind to just give up.

So with that in mind I pulled the copper knife from its sheathe and dropped to one knee, using the whole weight of my body to drive the blade into the earth, at the very center of the burnt runic circle created by the Bifrost. There was an effect of displaced air, similar to what happened with an explosion, except nothing was damaged, the whole opposite in fact. The burn disappeared, the plants were restored. All that was left of the fight was the broken glass-sliding-door leading to the music room. Since that wasn't part of the Earth, the Blackfoot magic on the knife hadn't worked on it. The spell was good for one use only, Chief had woven it for me to use that very day.

I didn't have much of a plan, not really. Nothing beyond going back to my old life, the life of Silbhé Arianna Kinross-Salani, graduate student at Norwich University. I was going to finish my three degrees (it'd probably be somewhat boring, but I was going to do it anyway), try and get certified in at least some of the languages I'd learned in the previous century or two (I didn't actually know how far back the Allfather threw me, or how long I spent in Themyscira); and then I had to find some way to get to Loki. Getting involved with SHIELD in some capacity would probably work…

So, not much of a plan, but that was okay, it wasn't like I needed to do everything on my own. I wasn't alone, I had my family. My Aunt Kathryn, who was probably still going to go ballistic, even if it wouldn't be due to a crazy Norse scorch mark on our backyard, but rather the hell of a story I had to tell her. There were of course Diana and Steve who'd sworn time and again that they wouldn't be leaving me again (no matter how many times I told her it was alright, I knew they would never fully stop regretting our estrangement those years). Lex, regardless of how many responsibilities he might have, with the company, his family, and the Veritas Foundation he, Trish and the Kents (Clark and Chloe had just gotten married the year before) had founded to help gifted; Lex had still promised to always be there for me. Julian for his part outright forbid me from even trying to keep him from things, he would be attending college with me, and had insisted on getting involved in whatever way he could, even if he wasn't gifted himself).

I had an awesome family, it didn't matter if blood did not connect most of us, family was more than that, I'd always known that. And thus, blood or no blood we still were, very much, family. A family Loki would be joining (either as friend or lover), as soon as I could find my way to him…

"One step closer

Closer to the light

No matter where we're going

I'll be by your side

And everything we used to know

Crashed into the great unknown

One step closer

We're gonna be alright"

---

So... you like it? Just how insane do you think the 'retelling' of the first Avengers movie is going to get with the way things have been thus far? I can tell you, it's going to be beyond crazy. Hope you'll enjoy! I certainly enjoyed writing it.

As always, full-sized poster and set of wallpapers can be found in DA, I go by Princess-Lalaith there (you will also be able to find a couple of wallpapers I made, under request, for a fellow fan-writer).

See ya in two weeks, when the Witness becomes the Maker!