"Steve?" Diana didn't want to believe the truth standing in front of her.
"You were too late, Diana. Now go. Let me move on." Steve dismissed her. His ghostly form started moving away from her.
"Steve?!" Diana didn't want it to end like this. He had to know how much he meant to her. Yes, these past months had been painful for both parties but she didn't want their friendship to end.
"There is only one way we can still be together." Steve came back and caressed her face. "You'll be loved." His face morphed into some demonic shape and charged through her. "We can be together forever." The voice kept saying repeatedly. The cold engulfed Wonder Woman and pain soon came after. Her hands clutched her head and she wanted to double over, badly. She screamed out. She could hear the concern and worry in Superman's voice. She opened her eyes to slits and could see the Man of Steel reaching out to her. His own demons were surrounding him and enveloping him in a venomous embrace.
"St-Steve… what are you doing?" Diana just wanted to go over and comfort Superman but the ghost of Steve wasn't letting her.
"This is the only way we can be together." Steve's voice whispered to her.
"DIANA?!" Diana saw Superman look frightened for her.
"Don't despair, Superman." A voice came out of nowhere. "This could be much worse. But since the world now knows the truth—that you are as damaged as the rest of us—it's time to be your supporter again." Superman doubled over and gritted his teeth, staring at the ground. "Learning about you as I did, I became sympathetic to the pain each one of you has suffered." Graves walked closer to Diana lying on the ground. "Except for Wonder Woman." Diana's eyes grew three times their size and she started to sweat. Her adrenaline was blazing through her veins but the force of Steve's ghost was still holding her to the ground. "Daughter of the Queen of Amazons and of Zeus himself. She needed to experience a human loss. And with Steve Trevor's death, she has. I've destroyed the Justice League, but I'm not out to destroy each one of you. I'm taking away the tears now. I'm helping you. And with you like me, we're going to help the world."
"We're going to destroy this temple and free these spirits. We're going to bring so much joy to many. We'll reunite everyone with the dead. We'll give everyone their loved ones back. Just like I've been given mine." His dead family, from what Diana could assume, surrounded Graves.
"We'll make everyone happy like you, Daddy." The ghostly being to Graves' side said.
"There's one problem here, Graves." A voice shouted from the back. Graves was shot in the shoulder and went down. "I'm not dead." Steve Trevor was hiding behind a boulder holding a gun and looked severely injured. Diana's spirit soared.
"Trevor?!" Batman shouted.
"If he's alive…" Superman soon finished Aquaman's thoughts.
"THIS ISN'T MY FAMILY!" Superman broke free of the spirits that surrounded him. Graves ran towards Superman and tried to push him back down to the ground.
"How dare you try to push them away!" Diana could hear someone hobble over to her in a hurried fashion.
"Diana?!" Steve screamed.
"Steve?" Diana wanted anything to go over and comfort Steve. She had to make sure he was okay. She struggled with all her might to be set free.
"Whatever that thing is, it's not me!" Steve's words encouraged her and with all her power she finally broke free from the ghostly casing that surrounded her. She lifted herself up to be face to face with Steve and she was extremely relieved he wasn't dead like Graves let on.
"You're alive? How?" They were both broken, both beaten in different ways.
"Graves had me tied up. I managed to slip out of my constraints. When I walked out, it was clear I wasn't just in some basement. These spirits have been chasing me. I thought I was going mad. I saw my parents and Tracy's husband. I saw all these people in my life who were dead. Then I saw you." Wonder Woman grabbed his hands and squeezed. If this wasn't proof that they were alive then she didn't know what was.
"No. I thought the Asuras killed you. You have to be dead for this to work!" Graves screamed at Trevor. Diana was furious to say the least. This man wanted Steve dead just to hurt Diana. Diana stood up and headed straight for the beast named Graves.
"NO ONE'S DYING BUT YOU, GRAVES. YAH!" Her fist sailed through the air and landed square on Grave's jaw throwing him across the room. He slowly got up and stated that he wouldn't let any of them take away the world's hope like they did his. Superman used his heat vision on Graves but it didn't have any effect on the ghostly casing that surrounded him. When Aquaman realized it wasn't working he put his trident into the back of Graves. Screams filled the echoes of the cavern and Diana got goose bumps all over her body. To say it was a haunting sound was an understatement. Finally, the casing broke and the ghosts escaped Graves. He fell to the ground and Diana lifted her sword to finish it but the sight before her made her stop.
A dying man was crumpled to the ground screaming and crying. David Graves, the man, was devastated to have lost his "family" for the second time. He was pleading with the heroes to kill him and let him be with his family.
"Those things weren't really your family. But you already knew that, didn't you, Mr. Graves?" Batman knelt down in front of David and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Deep down you already knew. You just wanted to convince yourself and the world otherwise." Batman's quiet and comforting words echoed through the inside of the mountain and Diana put her arms around herself, looking sadly at the man.
….
That day, after they dealt with Graves and Diana escorted Steve to the hospital, Diana went home. She sat on the edge of her bed and let all the air in her lungs escape her. She bent down her head and let her feel what she wanted to. Anger, grief, regret, relief, happiness, and an unsettled feeling were all contradicting each other. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she relished the feeling. This should be such a normal action but it was so foreign for Diana. She had learned from an early age that warriors didn't cry. But today, Diana was no warrior. She wasn't even Wonder Woman at this point in time. Right then and there she was a broken hearted woman who was dealing with the loss of her best friend and the relationship that had been fleeting. She relived the past couple days and just let herself feel. As her eyes became puffy and red and her sobs became less and less powerful, she fell backwards on the bed and the weight of her eyes caused her to drift into a dreamless sleep. The stars and stripes on the universal ensemble that day did nothing to lift the spirits of the invincible woman who wore them.
….
Diana arrived to the hospital and walked up slowly to the room. She was dreading what was to come. She didn't want to do it but she knew she had to. There weren't going to be any casualties because of her, especially not the ones that meant the most to her. She knocked lightly on the door and crept inside. A broken Steve Trevor lay on the bed in front of her. She stepped closer and stood over him. He appeared to be asleep so she didn't want to wake him. The bandages on his hands and the atrocious black eye he had were just glimpses of what he had to endure the past few days. She slipped her hand in his casted one and waited to see if he could feel it.
"Diana?" Steve croaked.
"Hi, Steve." Sadness crept over her. She pulled up one of those rolling stools and sat down in it next to the head of his bed.
"They said you've got a few broken ribs on top of those broken fingers and some internal bleeding and head trauma."
"How bad do I look?" Of course Steve would be worried about that.
"You look fine." Even beaten and bruised, he was still incredibly handsome. Maybe in another life, they could have been happy together. "This was my fault." Diana slipped her hand away from his and settled it in her lap.
"You're not doing this again, are you?" Steve was starting to get the picture.
"I thought you were far enough away, but I should've known better. After what happened to Barbara—" Barbara was one of her best friends until Diana made the mistake of getting too close to her and putting Barbara in a position she would never have been in before their friendship. Barbara's horrible fate was all because Diana had gotten too close.
"What happened to Barbara Minerva wasn't your fault either. The Cheetah-"
"You nearly died, Steve." He was skirting around the issue at hand.
"I've nearly died a thousand times, Diana. I'm a government agent. And I was out in the field protecting the world long before I met you." Steve sneered.
"But this time you were tortured and beaten and almost killed because of our relationship." Diana could hear the insult coming as soon as she uttered those last words. She stood up indirectly letting Steve know that she didn't have to stay if he didn't want her there.
"Our relationship? What relationship?! You ended it. You threw it away."
"You're still too close." Diana had to stay strong. Steve could no longer be in harm's way and this was the only way to do it.
"Too close? The only time I've seen you in over a year is on a computer."
"Why are you still working with the League?" She was hoping it wasn't because of her.
"BECAUSE THE LEAGUE NEEDS ME! I PROTECT THE LEAGUE FROM ALL THE RED TAPE AND FEAR MONGERING IN WASHINGTON! JUST LIKE I'VE PROTECTED YOU FROM IT SINCE THE DAY YOU CAME HERE!" Steve was screaming at Diana and Diana was just taking it. She knew if she raised her voice then things would just get more ugly. She wanted Steve to have an okay last memory of her. She didn't want the last thing Steve to remember of her was of her screaming at the broken version of him.
"I don't need protecting. The League doesn't either. We can take care of ourselves. You know that." She didn't want Steve to think he could come back to his job.
"So you think I head up A.R.G.U.S. just so I can be near you?" Diana hadn't meant to leave that impression with her words.
"I thought you weren't like everyone else. I thought you didn't think I was a puppy dog following you around." Diana shook her head at his words. She didn't want to contradict him. She knew that if she were to try and correct him he wouldn't listen.
"We're going to ask for a new liaison."
"The press will have fun with this. 'Steve Trevor dumped by Wonder Woman again.'" Diana could care less about the press. Diana reached out to Steve and uttered his name but he turned away from her.
"Please, Diana. Just go. I'm tired. I'm really tired. And I don't want to talk anymore." Steve didn't have to say anything else. Diana slipped out of the room, closed the door, and took a deep breath. She forced her back to the wall outside his room and slid down to the floor. She curled her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around them. Wonder Woman was supposed to be a symbol of strength, hope, and doing the impossible. How could she defeat so many threats to the world but not handle a simple break up? Wonder Woman put her head on her knees and groaned.