Yup, it's another chapter! I'm afraid you guys may hate me because of it! But I promise you, it's good!

Darkness was all that Clark could see. For miles on end all that stretched on was a never-ending sea of gloominess. Glancing down at his body, he saw that his own clothes changed to a shade of black.

He was a failure. He failed to save Diana from death. Even though his best friend was visibly suffering, he let her deal with it all alone. He let her deal with the pain of loving his best friend that was with someone else. He ignored the fact that she also had human needs, strong as she may be. But he never even gave her the attention that she needed.

Worse than that, he let Hera, the Queen of the Gods, take over his body to further hurt Diana. He pushed her over her limits. He made her think that he felt absolutely nothing for her, as a partner, as a friend, as a comrade, nothing. The last thing she heard from him was nothing but bad things.

"Oh, Di," Clark whispered into the nothingness, letting a tear slip from his eye. "I'm so sorry that I failed you. I wish I can bring you back, but I can't. I just can't. I'm so sorry…"

He was pathetic.

Nothing else mattered. Absolutely nothing else mattered to him anymore. What was the point? His vow was to protect the innocent from harm, and he let the closest person to him, filled with nothing but innocence and purity, get hurt for something she didn't CHOOSE to do. She never asked for this. She never asked to come out into "Man's World". She never asked to deal with Earth's problems and wars.

Clark closed his eyes. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair…

"Kal…"

His eyes snapped open. He could've sworn he heard a voice…

"Kal, it's me…"

A light started to materialize in front of him. In the light formed a body with long hair and soft blue eyes.

Clark couldn't believe his own eyes. "Diana, it's you…"

Diana smiled gracefully. She was wearing a pure white gown similar to those the gods wore, and her body continued to glow softly when the light that she came in disappeared. "Yes, it's me, Kal. I'm right here. Look," she spread her arms, "I'm finally light. No longer am I burdened with the task of being a human with godlike abilities. I'm finally free."

Clark's eyes watered, and a moment later the tears fell without any resistance. He put his arms around Diana, taking in her scent. "Thank God you're alright," he smiled, hugging her tightly. He felt as if he never wanted to let go.

He could now.

Diana wrapped her own arms around him, completing the hug. "I'm alright, Kal. I'm no longer in pain. I'm free…"

"Clark?"

He heard a voice in the distance but ignored it. He was with Diana finally, and she was truly happy. He could stay in oblivion forever.

"Clark!"

He gasped when Diana started to fade in his arms. When he tried to scream her name, no sound came out…

"Clark!"

His eyes snapped open as he sat up, breathing heavily. Donna was sitting in front of him, a look of relief on her face. "What…what happened?" he asked, putting a hand to his head.

"Look for yourself," she said, pointing to the side. Clark looked to see Hera standing a few feet away, watching the two of them. It took him a moment to realize that he was quite literally caged, but knew it wasn't an ordinary cage. It glowed dimly, indicating its magical properties. Glancing around, he noticed that they were in total darkness…just like his dream.

"About time you roused from your slumber, Superman," Hera said. Clark expected to see her angry from when he hit her, but she appeared completely relaxed. There wasn't even a bruise on her face.

"Where's Diana?" Donna demanded, her and Clark getting to their feet.

A smirk stretched the goddess' lips. With a wave of her hand, Diana appeared. She was being held up completely by magic, her head, arms and legs hanging limply. She was still a peach color…

"Is…is she dead?" Donna asked feebly, fearing the answer.

Hera shook her head. "No, my dear, she isn't. She did die, but she's back because of me. You see, I decided that death is too light a punishment for her, for all she would do is come here in spirit and still fulfill the prophecy. So I'm going to torture her, break her more than she already is now."

Clark's eyes widened. "No, she's already been through enough. Can't you let her go now?"

The goddess shook her head. "No, Superman, I can't. You see, an Amazon's willpower is much, much higher and stronger than the average human's. Even though they can fall in the deepest depths of depression and sorrow, they will always return. And I plan to make sure that it can't happen."

With that, Hera snapped her fingers together right before disappearing, and Diana fell to the floor. She groaned, sitting up slowly and putting a hand to her head. "Where am I?" she whispered softly to herself. Her eyes returned to their normal blue color.

She suddenly clutched at her chest, gasping for air. Clark used his vision to see that her body was now working at normal speed, but the damage was already done. Her muscles were strained to almost beyond repair, her heart was visibly stressed, and nearly every other organ was injured. He saw that the simple act of standing up was immensely painful to her.

"Who's done this? Show yourself, coward!"

"Am I really the one that's the coward?"

Clark gasped. Hera was still speaking. "How am I a coward?" Diana demanded, clenching her hands into fists. "I can bear the entire weight and pressure of being the savior of this world! How is that cowardly?"

The voice chuckled. You can withstand the weight of the world, but can't even control your own life."

Diana gasped. "I can control my own life!"

"Really? Then look down at your wrists."

Clark listened to the shriek of surprise when Diana looked. The bracers were gone, since she had crushed them during her rage. "My bracers! What happened to them?"

"You demolished them when your anger got the best of you. You managed to override the limitations of them and tapped into your father's power stored away within you. But because you chose to do so, you also managed to break your body down to dangerous levels. You're reckless, Diana."

"I am not reckless!"

"Superman seems to think so."

The gasp Diana gave made Clark look away. There was no point in wondering how she couldn't see him or Donna, given that Hera had already used a spell to hide him from view a short while ago. He looked to his left to see Donna clutching the bars of the cage, her grip so tight that her hands trembled. It appeared that she also knew it was no use in trying to get Diana's attention.

"What do you know about Kal? He's my best friend!"

"He vividly stated that he wants nothing else to do with you. Are you actually considering that to be what friends say to each other?"

Diana growled. "No! You have no idea what's going on!"

"I do. Superman wants nothing to do with you anymore. He hates you. Everyone hates you."

"That's a…" She paled visibly. "…Did you just say that everyone hates me?"

"They do. It's painfully obvious."

Diana quirked an eyebrow. "And how is that?"

The voice snorted. "Please, it is evident that the entire population of the Earth hates you. They are afraid of you. You harness the energy of Zeus, the most powerful god. You've managed to crush your virtually indestructible bracers under immense anger. If you were to take your anger out on the world, you'd be the cause of human extinction."

"But I know I'm not going to change!" she shouted. "I'm a hero, not a villain! I fight to protect the innocent, not the other way around!"

"Who's to say you won't be controlled? Diana, there are humans out there intelligent enough to place a chip on you, and this could spell the end of them."

"My friends won't let me destroy the world," she insisted. Clark could see the uncertain look in her eyes as she spoke. Hera' words were starting to get to her…

"They don't care about you. You're just worthless material hanging around them. They're the real heroes—you're just a bystander."

"You're lying…"

"I'm not. I have proof of how everyone hates you. If they cared so much about you, how come nobody came to you when you were visibly troubled?"

"Hardly anyone knew that! Those who did I pushed away!"

"Why did you push them away?"

"I didn't want them to become involved in my problems!"

"If they were true friends, they would've kept coming back, no matter what you said. They didn't want to help you. They just did it because they felt as if they had to."

"No!"

"It is true. Face it, Diana, you're nothing to everyone. The entire world doesn't want you. You're all alone."

Donna's hands trembled even more.

"Even if I don't have friends, I still have Donna! That's all that matters!"

"…You sad, pathetic little thing. Donna only took pity on you just like the rest of them. Why do you think she often got into fights with you when you found her after ten years? She hates you just as much as they do. The fights were her way of showing it."

Clark watched as Diana fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her shaking body. "Stop," she nearly whispered. "I don't want to hear any more of this."

"I'm merely stating the truth. You've been faced behind a wall of lies all your life; it's time to face the facts and embrace the reality of the situation. Nobody cares for you, Diana. Nobody would care if you were to die right here and now in a sea of nothing. They wouldn't even bother to look for you."

"I'm…"

"You're alone in this world. It's you against them, and they're winning."

"I'm…"

"You're trapped. You're trapped under everyone's hatred of you. They see you as worthless and useless. They don't care for you."

"I'm…nothing…"

"No! Diana, don't listen to her!" Donna cried, pounding on the bars of the cage they were in. "It's Hera! She's trying to get you to break!"

Clark looked ahead solemnly. Diana had collapsed onto the ground, her usually bright blue eyes now half-lidded and dull. She had silent tears creeping out of her eyes, falling to the darkness that was the ground. She still shook, and it scared him. Her body was still gravely injured. Even more than that, he wanted to convince her that everything Hera said was a lie, that she did have friends that cared for him. But he was in a cage that was completely made of magic. There was nothing neither he nor Donna could do.

"Stop," he said to Donna, earning himself a glare from the younger demigoddess. "There's no point in doing that. She can't see or hear us."

She turned to face him, her hands forming fists. "So what, you're just going to give up? You're just going to let my sister believe that the entire world hates her? Can't you see that she's nearly at the end of her wits?"

Clark stayed calm despite Donna's shouting. "I'm not giving up on her. I'm never going to give up, but first we have to get out of this cage first. I'm vulnerable to magic, and the bars are too strong for you to break…wait a minute…"

"What is it?"

He went over to her, grabbing her wrists. "Take off your bracers. Use your father's energy to break through the cage. This is Hera's magic; his power overrides hers. His power is in you."

She slowly shook her head. "I…I can't. Clark, you've seen how Diana turned out when she left her bracers off for too long. Combined with her anger, she literally killed herself. I'm just as angry as she was, and my own strength is significantly weaker than hers. To add his power to it…I'm just asking for death."

"You can control yours," Clark said. "Diana hasn't a chance to attempt to because she's afraid of what would happen should she go through with it. But you have. Many times you've sparred with her while under your father's strength. Your body can withstand it much longer than hers can." His hands tightened around her bracers. "Donna, just try."

Donna took a deep, nodding in understanding. She slowly slipped out of the bracers, gasping at the somewhat familiar rush of power from no longer having any restraints holding her back. Her eyes began to glow white as small bolts of lightning emerged. Looking to Clark, she went over to the side of the cage and gripped the bars in her hands. Summoning all of her power, she began to pull.

"That's it! You're doing it!" Clark cheered on. He watched Donna's body with his x-ray vision to make sure that she didn't strain her body too much. Her health was more important than getting out of the cage despite everything else.

Donna groaned, gritting her teeth together as she pulled with all of her might on the bars. She could feel her heart beating faster to support the massive pressure she was putting on her body and made sure that she didn't push herself any more than she had to. The last thing she wanted was to escape while in a similar state to what Diana was currently in.

The bars finally began to give way underneath Donna's grip. Hearing it encouraged her to keep going, and soon enough they broke. She flew into the other side of the cage, breathing heavily. She panted heavily, smiling lazily up at Clark. "I did it," she wheezed.

He helped her up. "You did," he smiled back. He helped her put the bracers back on and caught her when she started to fall. "Easy now, Donna. You just took off a lot of energy. Just relax."

They stepped out of the cage, going to where Diana was lying. She had never moved from her spot. "Di, it's me," Clark said gently, reaching down to touch her arm.

He went straight through her.

"Damn!" he cursed, backing away angrily. In his rush, he'd forgotten that Diana doesn't even know that they were there.

"What are we going to do now?" Donna asked, still breathing heavily. To Clark's eyes, she looked ready to pass out at any given moment.

He had no idea. For the first time since this entire thing started, he felt helpless. What could he do now? He hadn't a clue on where they were even was, let alone how to get out of it. From the look on Donna's face, she had no idea, either. What was going to happen to them?

Suddenly, a streak of lightning and a loud thunderclap shook them. An unknown wind started to blow, forcing Donna and Clark to close their eyes. They opened them again when it died down and noticed a soft glow in front of them.

Clark and Donna gasped in unison as they stared at what had made the noise and wind. There was no mistaking the pale skin, large sword, and hair pulled back. Even more unmistakable was the lightning eyes the figure had. "It's…"

"Zeus."

A/N: So, Zeus finally makes an appearance in this story. I promise you, it's for the better.

So, I broke Diana even further Will it last? Not for long, hopefully. She's going to have a hard time along the way, though.

Please review!