Stay With Me
"Mom! Mom! Look what I found!"
The little boy ran fast, his little legs blurring as he came out of the tall grass and onto the porch.
"What is it, darling?" She had a tone of utmost tenderness, her eyes shining as her son excitedly came up the stairs with his hands clasped.
"Look!" He opened his hands, and inside was a frog. It seemed unimpressed with the situation.
"Oh! Where did you get that?" She was only half-surprised, the boy had an inquisitive mind, much like his father.
"By the pond. It hopped onto me. Look how slimy it is! You want to touch it? Here." His blue eyes were wide open, enthralled by the little creature.
"Ewwww!" piped the boy's younger sister after she drew her fingertips away. Her cute face creased in some disgust, her brother was always running off and coming back with weird things. She had been perfectly happy sitting on her mother's lap, listening intently as she told her stories.
"You'd best put it back where you found it, honey, its friends are going to miss it."
"Do I have to?" he pouted, looking up at her.
"Yes." She smiled at him, he really did take after his father. "Please?"
"Okay." He turned around and ran back at once, his red cape flowing in the breeze.
"Mommy, can I also have a cape?" the girl asked thoughtfully, watching her brother in the distance. Earlier in the morning the her big brother had borrowed the tablecloth, and put it around his shoulders.
"Of course, sweetheart, do you want to have mine?"
"Really?!" she asked excitedly.
Her mother patted her on her head, full of golden flowing hair. "Of course, my love. But first let me tell you of the story of the princess and the frog."
The girl smiled widely, and sat down on her mother's lap once more.
Diana woke up in the cold. All the candles were out and her eyes had trouble adjusting to the darkness and she forced them closed again. It had been unusually cold in Themyscira, but none of her sisters had noticed. She reached for a sheet and drew it up to her shoulders, but she couldn't go back to where she was, try as she might.
She didn't want to wake up. Even a peaceful night's sleep alone eluded her.
Her room in Themyscira was much too large, and the palace it was in was much too crowded. She wanted to be alone, alone with her thoughts, her sadness and her dreams. The solitude was the only place she felt she could be in without anyone, or anything coming between her and her grief.
She couldn't really remember it now, but when things were okay and she was still happy she never really gave thought to what she wanted out of the world that was offered to her. She didn't dream of the life she could've had with him, but it seemed that Kal's supposed death made everything stark and clear, she had lost what she had wanted even before she even knew what it was. Maybe it was a cruel trick from Morpheus, or maybe one last gift to ease her pain, but his death brought out the deepest desires from her heart whenever she tried to rest. Things she didn't even dare to hope for assailed her in the night as only sadness enveloped her in the day.
It had been weeks since he'd disappeared, and there was still no sign. She had the League search the whole Earth, the Lanterns query every corner of the known universe and even asked the gods for any inclination of where he was, but nothing. Finally the other founding members voted to call off the search, and announced that Superman was missing with the probability of death likely.
She didn't want to hear it, any of it. There was a falling out at the Watchtower, and Diana argued tooth and nail that efforts to find him never cease. Kal would never give up for any of them, any neither should they. But practical voices simply stated that Superman would not want them to forsake the rest of the world for his own safety, people needed saving and looking out for, and they simply couldn't do that when everyone is committed to a futile search of one man. The League was designed to be something greater than its parts, such that one man or woman's loss could never stop it from doing its purpose, or so everyone argued against her.
Damn them all. She would sooner fight all of them than give up looking for Kal.
In a quiet, understated rage, she left the Watchtower then and there and flew to Themyscira. Her mother tried to console her by saying that Superman lived an honourable life, but he was a mortal and all lives must end. She didn't want to think of it, didn't want to accept it. Everyone who knew him, believed in him thought him dead, and it was only her in denial. She broke down then and there, and flew to a secluded cottage overlooking a marble cliff.
Why couldn't he simply move on from him? She asked herself. They were never lovers, only friends, as close as friends could be. He was always happy for her whenever she said she was seeing someone in her life, always supportive. His death shouldn't affect her this way.
"One day, I'd like to settle down. Maybe live on the farm, have little ones running around, doing what my father and his father did before me. I'd need to find someone to help me though, and she's out there somewhere. I'm not in a particular hurry to find her, but when I do, I'll never let go."
Fresh tears fell from her sapphire blue eyes. She tried to wipe them away but they wouldn't stop. Diana couldn't comprehend how cruel it was that she never had her chance with the kind, caring and generous man who stole her heart.
"Superman, what brings you here?"
"Forgive me, your majesty, I didn't know where else to go. I have to see her."
"Aren't you aware of the rules we have on Themyscira?" Hippolyta asked accusingly.
"I am, punish me later if you must and I'll gladly accept it, but I have to see Diana. It cannot wait."
She eyed him critically. The man was strong and handsome, she knew that much. She still thought it a possibility that he was here to do damage, history forbade her from considering otherwise. But there was something desperate in his eyes, coupled with the blood on his suit and the wounds he bore, she felt there was something here that she was not privy to.
"We heard reports of your death. Your allies consider you to be deceased. Why should I make liars of them? After all, the punishment for a man setting foot here is clear." Hippolyta countered. She had received the young man in the portal room, with the Royal Guard at her flanks. He didn't fight, nor resist any action against him. He simply stated what he was here for.
Clark looked at her, and bowed his head deeply in respect. "I am at your mercy. Please, I need to see her, your majesty, that is the only thing in my life that I will hold off dying for."
Hippolyta sighed. Her people thought it some sort of signal and drew their swords in unison, but she raised her right hand to stay them. "My daughter has not been herself lately, Superman. If you can find her, do what you must, but bring her back with you. That is an order." She talked with grace and power, and Clark instantly bowed to his knees in front of her.
He daren't look her in the eye, and flew off instantly before the Queen could change her mind.
Diana watched the inky blue darkness of the clear Themyscira sky give way to the rising sun. Sunrise was often the favourite part of the day for her. A new beginning, a fresh start. But such sentiments rang false today. She couldn't sleep last night, for fear of what she would see in her dreams, and for fear of being torn away and waking up into the world again.
She drew the black drapes and blocked out the young sun's rays. She extinguished the candles, one by one their pulsing luminescence disappeared into wraiths in the night. She pushed aside the silken canopy of that vast, empty bed of hers and climbed under the white sheets. Once she was still and silent, the shadow of melancholy began to settle over her once more.
Diana surrendered to her tiredness at once, and with a single tear in the dark sleep claimed her at once. Almost by default, she began to dream…
Kal-El was tearing apart the clouds, an elemental force as he flew, flew so fast that the waters beneath him rippled like tails as he dove under the white cliffs. He saw and knew exactly where he was going, where he needed to be.
END