Echoes of the Past

Rated: T

Summary: It's sister talk again between Diana and Donna! Donna was very excited when Diana received a new bat costume from Bruce. But then they also talked about a current friend, whose name suddenly revealed a story from the past...a story that Diana didn't expect to hear, let alone exist. In continuity with 'The Black Snow' (to be completed) and 'The Return of My Sister' (still only on chapter one...). Special thanks to Athena Phoenix for the great beta. And please excuse my bat...ehm... bad habit of writing another story in continuity with the other one that is not finished yet...Blame my muses. No continuity with the current DC installments. Screw DC's Infinite Crisis! All characters belong to the DC Comics, and trust me, I make no money out of this.

Chapter 1. A Favor for a Friend

The end of summer felt refreshing as I flew across the New York sky, glancing at various lights that started to glow down there. Today had been a particularly tiring day, not from fighting Tartarus monsters or masked villains. Instead, I had various meetings, from a morning panel discussion at Harvard about neo-paganism with Julia Kapatelis and Dan Brown (yes, the writer of 'The Da Vinci Code'), meetings with several delegations from Vietnam and Tanzania, up to the routine discussions with our local AIDS foundation – all had been delayed because of my previous adventure in New Chronus and Mynosyss. The last meeting in our Wonder Woman Foundation office in Mexico was particularly tiring, and for once, I couldn't talk directly about it with Bruce. It was a bit too...sensitive... and I needed more time to think before I called him later tonight, or tomorrow...

Oh well...fine! I'd say it now, and then I'd shut up.

It was about Selina.

Yes, the Selina Kyle. Bruce's ex. The famous gorgeous petite Catwoman.

Well, perhaps not about her, really. I was just a bit tired, and out of sorts... I'd become a bit worried.

You see, our foundation in Mexico City had just hired a new staff member; Maria Fernandez, a bright girl with a promising future. But she had a very sad past, apparently. A few months before she was recruited, Maria was strolling the streets of Mexico City as a prostitute. It wasn't her choice, though. She came from a broken family with no money, and thus ended up in the street as a teenager. She had been 'adventuring' in the city for five years before my friends took her under their care. It turned out that Maria was a clever girl. From being a part time helper, she was promoted to be one of the assistants of our street program. That was the program to empower and train street girls (like Maria had been), so that they could have alternative skills should they decided to quit "the life".

Now Maria was a vocal activist in our foundation. She was very different from the last time I had seen her, a week after her first assignment in our office. Back then, she was skinny and pessimistic. She couldn't even look into my eyes, even though I tried to talk to her. Now, she was this enthusiastic social helper, ready to help those unlucky ones, the way she was helped before.

That was good, no? So what was the problem?

The problem was that Maria had a sister, Inez, who left her to go to the U.S. four years ago. Apparently they used to 'travel' the streets together. Then, because of a false belief that America was a better place to make a living, Inez left Maria and went to the U.S. with a dashing middle-aged man. Then Maria, knowing that I was based in New York City, asked me to locate her sister, and give Inez her message.

"She should go home," Maria had told me earlier with determination. "She knows nothing of life but what she had before. The life I had before. And now that I know there is more in life than that, I want her to know that too."

"Don't you think that she's getting better in the U.S.?" I had asked her. "Perhaps she has let go of her past, the way you have."

I remembered that Maria had winced. "If that were the case, I won't be this worried, Diana. I was not sure where Inez went, but she did promise to write me emails and send news as often as she can. Her first emails were nice, full of promises. But then, it turned out worse, as if she wasn't comfortable anymore there – wherever she was.And now..." Maria's voice had faltered, "she hasn't emailed me for more than a year..."

"Any idea where she lives?" Even if the Justice League database couldn't help me, Bruce sure could.

"She only sent me her photo once, three years ago." Maria had handed me a worn piece of a photograph. "She said she lived in that city. I thought it was in New York, so I thought you might be able to help."

I remembered looking into that photograph, expecting to see a New York landmark that I recognized. But instead...

"That's not New York," I had told Maria. And it wasn't. Inez, the copper-haired girl with lovely big brown eyes, was posing in front of a bridge, with gothic buildings in the background. The photograph was taken in the evening, so the light wasn't good enough for identification.

"What? But she told me that the guy who invited her to the U.S. was from New York. She should be staying with him then, no?"

I had tried to suggest something. "Perhaps they moved out? Or, are you sure that Inez was still living with that man?"

Maria had only shaken her head desperately.

"Okay, let's try another way. If you don't mind, would you show me her last emails?"

So we had spent some time browsing Inez's emails to Maria. There hadn't been many; we finished in less than fifteen minutes. Inez didn't write a lot. In her first emails, she had said that she missed Maria, but 'the life here is glamorous, so there's no way I wanna go back to Mexico. Not now, at least!'

Then she had stopped emailing her sister for a few months. In her second year in the States, her emails got sadder and sadder, until she had written, 'I'm worried, Maria. I think Jose doesn't like me anymore. I'm afraid that I'll have to leave this city soon... But I don't want to! I won't leave! Gotham has promised me a lot! I will not let go!'

"Gotham! So, Inez was in Gotham. Now, it would be easier," I had comforted Maria. But then Inez' last email, written a year ago, said something else.

'I have to sneak out just to send you this. Forget Mexico. I might not be able to come back. Jose has me broke, no money to run. Two nights ago he punched me so hard for refusing to do something very disgusting, I still can't eat well now. I stole some bucks to go to the internet cafe to write this. It's the end. East End is the end. I have to leave. But I don't know how...'

"East End..." I had whispered.

"What is East End?" Maria asked. "I thought it was just an idiom."

"No," I tried to explain. "East End is a place..."

"So you know that place?" Maria's brown-black eyes brightened in hope. "Will you help me then?"

I remembered that I suddenly had a lump in my throat, and only managed to mutter something like "Sure, I will." Maria then jumped up and hugged me, though I was still in a daze, chanting "Gracias! Gracias!"

Now, I had a nice evening planned, huh? Promising to help a friend, meaning I had to go to the East End. Which meant I had to see her – the lovely little kitty...

Was I jealous of her? Don't be silly, Diana! What's there to be jealous of?

For Gods' sake, I didn't care. I had Donna here with me now, so I could talk about everything instantly, just like the way we used to be.

Donna.

I couldn't thank the Gods enough for bringing my little sister back to me. Sometimes I thought that the whole thing was too good to be true. I mean, less than three months ago, Bruce and I started dating. And though we were still incognito, his love and care for me were enough to make me accept that most of our friends didn't know about us, except for a very small circle of friends. Which, of course, included Donna, who had just came back to me a mere few days ago, and was very very excited when I told her about Bruce and I.

Donna. My little sister, coming back to me. I found myself praying every day and night for her not to be taken away from me anymore.

With Hermes' speed, it would only take me less than five minutes to get from my Foundation office in Mexico City to the Embassy. But somehow I slowed down today, so it took me almost twenty minutes from taking off to descending. The Embassy's lights had been turned on – I supposed Ferdinand did that. He was just too happy to meet Donna again. Since her arrival, my dear Ferdinand had been busy cooking her various meaty meals (how fortunate for him, as I didn't eat meat anymore!).

As I touched down in the upper balcony, I found that all the staff had gone home, except for Rachel. Still finishing her last assignments, she tilted her head as she heard me coming in.

"Go home Rachel. It's Friday night," I greeted her. Athena knew how hard Rachel worked, and thus she deserved a good weekend. "Go to cafes or movies or something like that." I walked to the table and put my laptop backpack down.

"Only if you do that too, Madam Ambassador," she grinned. "I've had contingency plans in case some paparazzi came out with bombastic news of Diana of Themyscira dating the most eligible bachelor in the U.S., so you don't have to worry about it."

Now how did she know that! That Bruce and I were dating?

"I do not have the slightest idea of what you are talking about, dear Rachel," I played with one or two pieces of her papers, trying to act Batman-ish.

"And you always forget that you're the world's worst liar," she smiled devilishly. She tidied up her table, grabbed her bag, and started to walk out when she suddenly turned and talked over her shoulder. "I almost forgot – there's a package waiting for you. I've put it in your room."

"A package? From whom?"

"Well, two packages, to be precise. No message. But there was this tiny symbol that every girl would recognise." She flashed that mischievous grin again and walked away.

Tiny symbol? I arched my eyebrow in curiosity. "Is Donna home already?"

"Yup, she's down there! Having an early dinner with Ferdinand. Or examining your package."

She sure was acting as I'd received a marriage proposal from Donald Trump or someone like that.

Wait a minute. Not Bruce! Bruce wouldn't send such a package with the Wayne Enterprises symbol to my Embassy, would he? That would just blow our cover then. And what that package was about? Why didn't she put it in my office instead?

But as I walked down the dining room, I found that the prospect of gossiping with Donna was more interesting than guessing what was in the package (hopefully not a sick Joker joke) or who sent it. Listening to my own boots clicking along the corridor, I suddenly smelled a very tempting fragrance from the kitchen. Spinach ricotta quiche.

I pushed the kitchen door open to find Ferdinand putting down a plate of something smelling wonderful on the kitchen table – and my little sister Donna Troy, wearing an oversized Donald Duck t-shirt (very her!), busily finishing her first plate of something that also looked wonderful. All my tiredness just vanished once I saw Donna. She tilted her raven-haired head upon hearing me coming in.

"Di! Just in time! I'm just starting my second round of Ferdinand's quiche! Here, come and try it!" My sister blew a strand of her hair out of her mouth, which apparently hindered her eating process.

"Diana. A vegetarian quiche for you," Ferdinand nodded his Khitotaur head.

In the first few days of our reunion, we were busy in helping the Mynosyssians preparing for battle against the Titans of Myth. Then upon our return to Earth, Donna and I were busy as well caring for each other, telling how glad and grateful we were that she was alive, and we could resume our lives again as before. I helped her settle in again in the Embassy (after her death, I had sold our old apartment), setting up a vacant room on the same floor as mine for her bedroom, and another room downstairs for her office. She also went to visit Themyscira for several days. Then as days gone by, Donna started to lose her sorrow (upon what she did to the Mynosyssians), and begun to be her old self: the cheerful, happy-go-lucky Donna before her death, three years ago.

And that included occasionally eating up my food, providing that she was very hungry.

"I didn't eat yours, Sissy, no worries. Ferdinand made me the beef version," grinning, Donna pushed a plate of (indeed) spinach ricotta quiche to me.

"How thoughtful," I smiled back. I was not hungry yet, but I'd have a bite of Ferdinand's quiche. "How's your day?"

"Good..." munching between her meal. She's more beautiful than Aphrodite, but she could also act as carelessly as Pan. "Talked with several old friends. Visited Titans Tower and the Outsiders' headquarter. Had a talk with Kory. I wanna set up my portfolio again. Hope those guys out there will still accept my photographs."

With my left palm supporting my chin, I picked up my fork and started to cut the quiche. "They sure will. Have you tried the darkroom?"

"Yup – it went all well. Though of course it won't hurt me to invest in good digital camera for today's photography. Makes things a lot easier."

"The quiche was good, as usual, Ferdinand," I called. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, Diana," my version of Alfred Pennyworth answered from the stove area, squatting in front of the oven.

"How was your day?" Donna asked, sweeping away a curl of her hair.

I shrugged. "So-so..."

"Not good, huh?"

I smiled weakly. Donna studied me for a moment while licking her fork. "You wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head. "Later, perhaps. Not now." Then I changed the subject. "Have you activated your account?" Since Donna's death, I'd frozen her bank account without knowing what to do with it. I figured out that I would just donate the money to some orphanage, but somehow I didn't manage to do that. Now I was glad that I hadn't, as Donna could directly access her old accounts again.

"Just this afternoon. Poor Mr. Smith there, he was so shocked that I appeared alive and okay in front of him, he demanded a lot of ID from me before he gave me my money," Donna giggled as she munched her last piece of quiche. "Of course your recommendation and phone calls worked. Not to mention the new ID card Dick gave me."

Then suddenly my sister just put down her fork, and looked at me with twinkling eyes. "Speaking of which, Diana, there's a package for you upstairs."

"I know. Rachel told me."

"And you know who sent it?"

I shrugged. "Some names passed through my mind."

"Including Bruce?"

I glanced at my very excited sister. "That occurred to me. But why would he deliver a package like that? Rachel was grinning all the time as she told me that. She must've thought that a rich guy just sent me a wedding dress."

"Well... it does look like a dress box. And another one, a shoe box? Big and white, you know. With ribbons. Red ribbons." Donna's baby blue eyes were dancing in front of me.

"So?"

"Sooooo?" this time her eyes just darted up to heaven along with her hands. "By Rhea! Aren't you at least excited? What are you waiting for! C'mon open them!"

With that, she rose from her chair. I managed to swallow the last piece of my quiche and mutter a thank you to Ferdinand, before Donna dragged me upstairs.

xxx

So, there they were: two big white boxes, each tied with a big red ribbon. One looked like a dress box. And both had a W symbol, for Wayne Enterprises. Or was that for Wonder Woman? I suddenly realized how eerily similar my Wonder Woman symbol was to the Wayne Enterprises logo.

Donna was jumping frantically in front of me. "Open it! Open it!"

"Do you know the word 'patience'?" I lifted the box, guessing what was inside by its weight.

"You can tell me later. Gimme your Ambassadorial dossier about 'patience' later," Donna's hands were everywhere in the air. "Now I just wanna know what your boyfriend sent you."

My boyfriend. As I recalled, Donna was the first person who addressed Bruce as 'my boyfriend'. Of course, I told her at the same time I told Cassie, when the three of us were strolling the empty New Chronus as that half-moon vehicle (or planet?) approached the Earth. I just couldn't leave Cassie behind. I'd lied to her about her father, Lord Zeus. I just couldn't leave her out of such a big secret anymore. Even if the secret involved the Batman.

Both of my sisters had just gone agape for a while. Then as Cassie muttered, "You date the Batman. Bruce Wayne. You date Bruce Wayne..." over and over again, Donna just looked at me lovingly. Caressing my face with her fingers, she had looked at me in such a sisterly spirit, a spirit I'd long missed.

"I'm truly, truly happy for you, dear Sister," was all she'd said. And as we looked into the darkness of space between Earth and New Chronus, she had just cuddled up to my arm and rested her head on my shoulder.

As we arrived on the Embassy (and Donna had left New Chronus orbiting the Moon, within sight of the Justice League Watchtower), Cassie had started to question me about my relationship with Bruce.

"You haven't told Kara about this, have you? Coz I won't forgive you if you told her first before me. You haven't, have you?"

"No, Kara doesn't know yet." I should've known better that in their age, Cassandra Sandsmark might rival Kara Zor-El. At least in getting my attention.

"Good. So, how does it feel, dating the Bruce Wayne?"

Funny how in the eyes of a teenager, even a teenager who worked with Batman's sidekick, the Batman couldn't possibly be the billionaire Bruce Wayne. So it happened with Cassie, I supposed.

"I don't know, Cassie. I never go out with the Bruce Wayne. So I haven't started living 'champagne wishes and caviar dreams', if that's what you're after."

"But how could you let that happen? At least you guys should go to the movie together once! Serenity is playing, you know? That dude, Joss Whedon, is planning to make a Wonder Woman movie! Your movie! You know..."

And it went on, and on, and on, until Helena Sandsmark called her daughter home, so she could do her homework that was due the next day.

Donna, on the other hand, still maintained her poise upon learning of my relationship with Bruce. Alas, it was only for a few days. As soon as she regained her cheerfulness, her gossiping attitude was resurrected as well, resulting in hours and hours of her trying to know every detail of my dates with Bruce. Of course, I could still manage to escape some of them. But apparently tonight was not the case.

"Go on, Sissy, open it. Don't just stare at it! Rachel and I've scanned the boxes –

no bombs inside." Donna plumped onto my bed, tossing her sandals away, and supporting her head with one hand.

"I will stay right here until you open it." Her blue eyes twinkled in delight.

Charming. Now I didn't even have any privacy.

So, I inhaled, and exhaled. And inhaled, and exhaled. And inhaled... and looking at dear Donna who soon would unleash her version of Etrigan the Demon... and I pulled off the red ribbon of the first box. Lifting the white box lid, I saw...

"What's that? A black costume?" Donna's head suddenly popped right next to me, peering into the box. "A bit too early for Halloween, dontchasay?"

Suddenly I knew what this was all about. Smiling, I picked up a black leather costume, admiring its lightweight material. I only knew very few people who were able to design and make this material, including –

"The Batman! It was from him!" With speed faster than Flash, Donna grabbed a small card placed among the costume set. It was a white blank card, with only a bat symbol on it. But it was enough for both of us.

"My Bat costume..." I muttered.

xxx

Author's Note: I'm sure that Ferdinand was already around before Donna died. He wasn't depicted in the 'Who was Donna Troy?' episode, but he appeared in the same book, i.e. 'Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003'. And yeah, I tried to pack the story with interesting women, Donna Troy among others. But as you can guess, the other major guest star is the Catwoman! And I will try to write her cool, coz believe it or not, I like the brash lady.