Chapter 5: A Look Inward

Diana's chambers in the Royal Palace of Themyscira

I left my office in London after Hessia made the arrangements for Kal on Themyscira. She tried to hide her concern with sarcasm, but she knew. Kal wasn't the only one with secrets. Mine just were a little more complicated.

Returning home had been always been a double-edged sword. One the hand I missed seeing my sisters but on the other I enjoyed man-world. I wasn't a _ …. I stopped myself from saying it. As I stepped into the palace it was the same old same old

'Welcome home Princess'

'Greetings Princess'

And the occasional 'You back squirt'.

In all honesty that was the greeting I was looking for. Only Alexa called me that. She was twice my size, a gentle giant and the only person here that treated me like I was normal. With her I wasn't a princess or the other thing. I was just Diana.

Finally making my way to my chambers I finally heard it.

"Oh you finally came back squirt,"

I couldn't help but smile.

"Will someone had to make sure you didn't get rusty," I replied as I opened my chamber door.

As the door opened I saw Alex seated atop my bed with a pair of cups in one hand and a bottle of the new wine in the other.

"I'm never rusty squirt," she scoffed.

Alexa rose to her feet and came up to me giving me a kiss on the lips. As we parted there was someone sad in her eyes.

"What was that look for?" I asked.

Alexa didn't reply she just placed the wine and cups on a table in the middle of my room. She let out an audible sigh.

"You invited a man here…" she finally said as she lowered her shoulders.

The tension in the air was thick between us. Like me Alexa was born after the events with Hercules and his men, so the harshness of her tone shocked me.

"It's just Superman Alexa," I replied as I took a step towards her. "He wouldn't hurt any of you…"

"But he could hurt you," she replied.

"Kal needs a friend right now…" I continued.

Alexa paused for a moment, I could see her biting her lips. Somethings were better left unspoken yet was she turned to face me I knew she would say it.

, "… And what happens when the full moon comes and the God of War within you comes out," she said coldly. "How much of a friend will he be to you knowing that all the wars and blood shed have to go through you before they can happen?"

I lower my head.

"I'll shield him from it," I replied.

Alex shook her head.

"Like you tried to do from me?" she added tossing her hands up into the air.

"Kal isn't like you," I answered. "I don't love him as I do you."

"Foolish child," Alex hissed as she stepped up into my face.

Looking down at me she wrapped her powerful arms about me.

"You are a lot like I me you know," she whispered softly. "You are a moth drawn to the flame of certain people. I was dawn to a conqueror from the east in my youth…"

As she spoke she would plant a kiss up my lips.

"He was unlike any man I met, and I loved him," she continued. "But one day he fell in battle and I never had a male lover again. Not because I did not enjoy it but because no man made me feel the flame as he did. My sisters… You held that flame. The same spark he had."

Her words and gentle touch spoke to me.

"Superman is a flame you are drawn to," she continued as she stared into my eyes. "He's like me isn't he?"

I nodded for there was no lie in her words. With him I was just Diana. I liked that feeling.

"Does it matter that he isn't a woman?" she asked.

I linger on her words for a moment.

"No," I replied.

Alexa placed one more kiss upon my lips before letting me go. She picked up the wine and cups from the table beside us and poured us both some.

"Than why don't you tell him," she paused as she handed me a cup. "… Everything before he finds out on his own."

I lifted the drink and took a sip.

"I can't tell him," I replied. "He has a life. Even if he needs a break from it right now, once he's back on his feet he will return to his world."

Alex scoffed. She knew of what I spoke of or whom I spoke of.

"And yet he turned to you," Alexa added with a snort.

I rolled my eyes as I took a seat on my bed.

"He isn't thinking clearly Alexa," I replied as I took another drink.

"Or is he?" Alexa questioned.

Before I could reply I heard J'onzz say Superman had arrived on island. Alexa waved me away as she told me to go greet him.

"You better tell him I want a fight," she ordered. "Got to see it he's really all that 'super'."

I left my chambers without really answering her. I knew what she was up to. In our way a fight can show you all you need to know about a person. It's a personal thing to fight another. She wanted to test him. There was no need. My goal was to return him to his life and nothing more.

As I approached the front porch of the palace I saw Kal standing there in a blue plaid shirt and jeans. A few of the guards were chatting with him. They were probably asking him about his various battles. The parted from him as I came closer to him. A few of them had the same look of Hessia and Alexa on their faces. I fought the urge to tell them he had a woman he loved back at home, but I didn't want to make Kal feel uncomfortable. I know what he said about Lois, but I didn't believe him.

"Welcome to Themyscira Kal-El," I said with a smile.

"Your home is more beautiful than I could have imagined, Diana," Kal replied with a smile.

Our eyes met as he spoke. The flame that Alexa spoke of I felt it in that moment. A sea of blue eyes consumed me. This was dangerous. I force myself to douse the feelings boiling up to the surface.

"You aren't wanted here flame," I thought to myself.

A lie, but one that would make protecting Kal from what I was a lot easier.