The Return of My Sister

Rated: K

The Return of Donna Troy, sans the horrible Trinity break-up. Batman and Wonder Woman arrived in Mynosyss to find Troia, the lunatic Goddess. What should Diana do to release her sister from Mnemosyne's spells? Took place after 'The Black Snow'. Thanks to Jennifer Larissa for the beta reading. Believe me, all characters are not mine. They belong to DC Comics. And I made no profit at all. Instead, this comic and fan fiction frenzy has cost me lots of money!

Chapter 2. The Lunatic Goddess

If you were launched to space by a device that could create superluminal speed, and hence traveling with velocity faster than light, logically your body would disintegrate due to the incredible momentum created by the speed. Unless you're the Flash, who possessed the ability to tap into the Speed Force, and could travel even faster than light, safe and sound. Or if the Scarlet Speedster safely carried you in his embrace, and hence you were temporarily affected and protected by his power.

In Las Vegas, Flash used to carry Batman like that, like a baby in front of him, despite the Dark Knight's initial inquiry of the necessity of his pose. I remembered that the 'Fastest Mouth Alive' had told me much later on, that Batman's legs 'would fall outside the Speed Force and would probably be torn off' if he had carried the Caped Crusader on his back. That had silenced the Dark Knight, and without further comments they had continued to operate in this manner.

The other option was if you were traveling with a vessel that could produce such momentum and velocity to create a Lorentzian traversable wormhole, and hence traveling to the other end of the universe (or, better or worse, depending on your point of view, ended up in another universe via the so-called 'Schwarzschild wormhole'), without leaving the safety factor of its passengers, like we were right now.

Heh. So much science to save your sister.

Standing next to me, the Batman just re-checked his Bat-PDA.

"We're traveling in superluminal velocity," he confirmed my suspicion. "This place is much bigger than its outside circumference."

"This travelsphere must be protecting us from the impact." I checked my surroundings. I was hoping to be able to get a glimpse of starry lights like the ones in my favorite 'Star Trek' series during one of its warp journey, but saw none of them. Instead, we were standing – or rather, floating – over structures that resembled either brain or nerve cells. Rather gross, if you asked me, but at the moment I didn't think of it as such.

Instead, I saw chapters of my life with Donna played back in my mind. First time meeting her in Greece, and the moment we learned that we were sisters. The moment Donna lost her son and ex-husband in the terrible car accident. The civil war in Themyscira, where she continued to support me. The battle with Circe. Our shopping and café sessions in New York. Her death, and the subsequent sorrow. Now, it's so vivid, yet so surreal, to learn that I was on a journey to save her from whatever kept her from us all these years.

I studied Batman, and smiled. "She didn't know of our kiss."

Behind his cowl, I bet he drew his eyebrows in an arch. "She died before we got together, Diana."

"Yes...no...I mean... the Obsidian kiss..."

My Dark Knight smirked. "Knowing you two, it won't take long for her to learn it all."

I smiled mischievously. "I will keep the intimate ones for myself."

"Riigghhht."

Oh, great. He doubted me. Me!

Then he studied the surroundings again. It would've been only twenty minutes or so since we boarded the travelsphere. "Any ideas what's this Mynosyss, Princess?"

"None whatsoever." I pursed my lips. "But I bet that we're going into a nasty battle soon."

Batman nodded. Now he checked all the weaponry he borrowed from my armory. He had taken a shield, a crossbow and its arrows, a battle-axe, a tanto (small dagger) I bought in Japan, and a sword. He had left a big bow I had offered him.

"Arsenal should be in Mynosyss by now," he had argued. "No need for another archer."

I also re-checked my armaments. My sword and dagger were secured in my 'Wonder Utility' belt. Upon Batman's earlier request, I hid the substances of my malleable invisible jet behind my belt. I swung my battle-axe here and there, testing my flexibility. I examined my shield, remembered seemingly not so long ago that I also used it during Supergirl's rescue mission to the Apokolips.

I looked around again. Slowly but sure, the 'brain and nerve' cells dissipated to reveal a large observation window in front of us. We started to witness various planets and stars passing us (or rather, we passed them) with slower and slower speed.

"We're arriving soon." Batman noticed that as well.

I gestured to a small ringed planet in front of us. "That should be our destination."

"That's Mynosyss?" he tilted his head, examining the planet smaller than Earth in its size. Overall, the planet reflected yellowish color, though upon approaching it, I also saw green patches here and there. There seemed to be no equivalent of ocean on this planet. The rings bore a resemblance to Saturn's ring, like an asteroid belt circling the planet, only in one layer, instead of the fifteen layers of Saturn's.

"What's that?" he pointed a small strange object off the planet's ring that we didn't see from our original point of arrival.

I squinted, feeling familiar with the object in question. It looked like a crescent moon, or more appropriately, an apple bit in more than half revealing its inner core. Yet, the core of this planetary object wasn't an apple seed. On the contrary, I saw several structures occupying the base of the 'crescent moon'. Structures, of which upon closer examination, revealed Greek-influenced architectures.

"New Cronus..." I whispered, finally registering the object's identity.

So slightly, Batman tilted his head once more. "The exile place for the Titans of Myths?"

"So...that's where she was all this time? New Cronus?" I didn't answer his question. I got confused myself. "Why didn't she contact me then? I mean, being with the Titans of Myths, she would have access to contact me directly."

I never believed that Donna truly had died. I knew that she wasn't in Elysian Field; otherwise she would've visited me in my dreams if she wanted to. The oracles of Themyscira had once confirmed me that. So, even though I believed that my sister would still live somewhere in this universe, I didn't know where, and how she lived.

I inhaled and prepared myself. Though the Olympian Gods I worshipped were not at war with the Titans of Myths anymore, their predecessors were sometimes still hostile upon the memory of how Lord Zeus defeated Lord Cronus and banished the rest of the Titans across the universe. I wasn't sure that they would be happy to have me, the champion of the Olympians, visiting New Cronus. Especially with the mission of saving Donna Troy.

Yet, the travelsphere didn't approach New Cronus. Instead, it changed its trajectory to enter Mynosyss.

I exchanged look with the Batman. "Apparently she's not in New Cronus, then."

He didn't answer. Only a slight tightening of his jaws and his surreptitious nod told me to be prepared.

xxx

Groaning, Jade tried to open her eyes. She must've been unconscious for a while. Cursing and forcing herself to sit, she remembered how easily Donna escaped from the emerald structure she created to contain the mad woman, whom afterwards tossed her, the daughter of the first Green Lantern on Earth, away from the arena.

"Goddess of the Moon, my ass!" she snorted. She wasn't particularly a fan of Donna Troy. Donna's past as a member of the inactive Darkstar Corps and an ex-girlfriend of the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner had made her hard to really like her. The fact that everyone she knew had kept insisting that Donna was a nice and warm-hearted woman had made her believed that under different circumstances they would have been friends as well. But now, learning that Troia had changed into a mad goddess-wannabe that killed innocent inhabitants of a small planet such as Mynosyss (not to mention other civilizations), she was glad that she wasn't Troia's friend.

"Just wait and see..." Jade pushed herself to stand up. "...what Kyle would think of you right now, Goddess!"

The female Emerald Warrior wiped the sweats on her forehead. Tucking away her damp deep-green hair, she exhaled and listened to the sound of battle nearby. That Donna chick had really thrown her quite some distance; she couldn't see what was going on with her friends now. The last thing she remembered was that Wonder Girl was trying to capture Troia with her lasso, at the same time she tried to imprison the Lunatic Goddess with her Lantern power. Both of them failed, and now the Amazon girl might be attending to her own wounds. Of course, providing that Troia didn't choose to beat down her sister.

Feeling more steady, Jade collected her willpowers and ordered herself to fly. Unlike other Green Lanterns, she didn't need a particular Lantern ring to generate her power. That didn't stop Donna tossing her away, though, and which annoyed her. She felt her body glowing in the emerald light and readied herself to take off, only to halt at the sight of another light materializing a few meters away from her.

Abruptly she turned, ready to defend herself. Cripes! If this is another crazy goddess or god from New Cronus, I might need help!

The light in front of her grew larger to reveal an opening. From the inside, she saw two figures stepping out of the light. One large, one slim, both with capes swirling behind them. Gosh. A god and a goddess. What a nice day.

"Uh-oh. Guys...I need your help..." Jade muttered to no one, as all Titans and Outsiders were preoccupied with Donna.

To her relief, the slimmer figure extended her hand in a friendly gesture.

"Jade," the figure spoke firmly, but not unkindly. "I need you to tell us where Troia is."

Jade blinked as the light disappeared to expose Wonder Woman and (oh my stars!) Batman walking towards her.

xxx

Cassandra Sandsmark, the Wonder Girl of the Titans, wheezed, trying hard to breathe. Her headache worse with time, and she couldn't think about her next strategy clearly. Which was understandable, as she just received yet another blow from her former Amazon sister, the dear Donna Troy, who had transformed into a Lunatic Goddess of the Moon. Ignoring the pain in her body, she tried to get up. Through her blurred vision, she saw Troia approaching steadily, eyes devoid of the love and compassion that used to emanate from the blue eyes. Instead, Troia's eyes now radiated anger and eagerness to eradicate anyone standing in her way.

Cassie shook her head, desperately trying to remain focused amid the ruins of the buildings that surrounded her. She didn't know what else to say or do to bring the real Donna back to them. She had shown the starry-haired goddess a tattered photograph of Wonder Woman, the pre-dead Troia, and her together after a ceremony in Paradise Island in an attempt to make Donna remember her past. Instead, Troia just seized the picture, tossed it away, and laid another jab into her. When she tried to argue that the Titan Gods had screwed with Donna's mind, her former sister just snorted and landed another kick.

That kick was hard. Now Cassie, feeling devoid of energy, just managed to mutter as Troia grabbed her blonde hair to prepare her for another blow.

"You were Wonder Girl because of how much you cared...How good you were..." she still tried to argue. Deep inside, she was ready to die. Rather than living a world of lies, knowing that Superboy just left her and the Titans, and her former sister just turned into a monster, she would rather die in an attempt to make the things right again.

"Say no more, you deceiver!" didn't buy the blonde teenager's last argument, Troia raised her fist to hit the battered Wonder Girl. She didn't even blink as Cassie, who claimed to be her sister, closed her eyes to welcome death.

"Unhff!"

Troia didn't manage to register what happened, as she did not only feel that her blow to Cassie didn't land properly, but also that her body was pushed back and thrown to the opposite corner of the ruins. The Titan Goddess of the Moon gasped upon the hard contact with the ground, then opened her eyes to see her newest opponent.

She saw a tall woman with a tiara on her forehead. Her long raven hair swirled poetically with her red cape as she approached her. She noticed that her newest foe unhooked a sword and a dagger, tossed them away, and resumed walking empty-handed, only with a golden lasso on her belt. Troia smirked. Bad move. Now you're just as helpless as that blonde!

Immediately, she rose on her foot again. "Who are you, witch, to dare to disturb Troia!"

However, instead of anger, she saw sadness in her opponent's eyes.

"Donna..." the other woman extended her hands, exposing a pair of silver gauntlet similar to what she usually wore. "Stop this madness right now. Return to me. To us, your real family. We missed you so much."

Troia blinked. The voice...she felt so familiar with the warm voice. Somewhere...She shook her head vehemently. No way. This must be another trick they tried on me.

Yet the face... very similar to the woman in the portrait she had seen at a glance just now. The blonde girl said it was Wonder Woman. Could she be this woman standing right in front of me?

"No more lies! My husband will not lie to me! He loves me!" Though she screamed to the new woman, she actually scolded herself for doubting Coeus' love for her.

"Coeus loves you, I do not doubt that. But that doesn't mean that he and the rest didn't lie to you. And I mean the Titans of Myths. Not the Titans of Earth." The woman kept talking to her, her voice strangely soothing her doubted mind.

"No!" Troia screamed at the top of her voice. "You just lie to me like the rest of them!"

"I'm not lying!" the raven-haired woman volleyed back. "If you just open your heart as your friends here have told you, and not deny the truth, you will realize that I don't lie!"

"And why wouldn't you lie!"

"Because I'm your sister!" Yelling as well, the woman showed her (not again...) the same tattered picture that she must picked on the ground just now. Now Troia saw with the blinding clarity that this woman was indeed the Wonder Woman in the picture.

"Donna, I'm Diana, your sister." Wonder Woman's voice had returned to a normal tone. "I'm also the Guardian of the Truth, the way you are. You know this, don't you? Because you were made from the fragment of my soul. You love the truth the way I embrace it."

"No..." Troia whispered desperately. "Coeus... he won't lie to me..."

"If you doubt my love to you, then it's your choice. But please, do not doubt the love the others have for you. Don't deny Cassandra's love. Or Nightwing's, or Arsenal's. Or Lian's. You remember Lian, don't you? Roy's little daughter?"

Troia went into silent mode. Her angered dispersed slowly, changed into doubts.

"You also remember Bobby, don't you? He was so small when it happened, but you remembered him well, don't you? You won't make another child like Lian sad now, will you? You love children too much to do that."

Troia remained silent. She even closed her eyes.

Slowly but sure, other heroes gathered around the two sisters, half ready for another battle, half expecting the awakening of Donna Troy. Batman and Nightwing approached silently, their batarang and birdarang at the ready. Raven just materialized with a black cloud, sustaining Wonder Girl with her healing touch. Starfire and Cyborg chose to wait at the ruins' perimeter, ready to give aid if needed. A blurred red and yellow indicated that Kid Flash had been running around, not so sure what to do. Arsenal had just arrived, one hand pressing his bleeding shoulder.

Then Troia opened her eyes again. To her friends' dismay, the lunatic stare remained. So quickly, Troia released her right jab at Wonder Woman, making the Amazon Warrior crash at the remaining wall behind them.

Diana was prepared for the attack. She didn't appear to be surprised; however, she did nothing to deflect Troia's blow either. Instead, she let herself crash to the ground. She quickly sprang up, ready to face Troia again. All the time, her eyes never left her sister's.

"You liar! I never had a child! Never!" Another blow at Wonder Woman made her flying at another corner of the ruins. This time, she remained at her new position.

"Yes, you did. His name was Bobby – Robert Long. And he will be so disappointed in his mother the way you are behaving right now." The Amazon warrior didn't even try to fight her sister's amok.

Swiftly, Troia dove to attack her sister, her hands started to choke Wonder Woman's throat.

"Liar!" her fingers grasped tighter.

"You know...I'm not. And Mother...would undoubtedly feel the dismay as well. This lunatic goddess couldn't be...her loving...daughter."

"Shut up!" she really wanted to kill this woman. To silence the pure voice that started to eat at her from within.

At the moment, all the Titans and Outsiders had gathered around the ruins. Shift frowned. "What's Wonder Woman doing? She's not fighting back!"

"I..." Garfield Logan, the Beast Boy, didn't quite know what to say.

Nightwing readied himself to try to restrain Troia. Before she had died, this woman had been his best friend. There was no way in hell he would let her kill her own sister. Dick cast a glance at Roy Harper, who was placing an arrow at his bow.

Richard Grayson inhaled and raised his birdarang to strike. A strong hand halted him midway.

"You will let her do that?" He looked at the Batman in disbelief.

The Dark Knight lowered his hand he used to stop Nightwing. "Wonder Woman knows what she's doing."

"Yes, but don't you see? Troia doesn't know what she's doing!" Nightwing tried to argue.

His ex-mentor tilted his head slightly. "If not in Troia, have faith in Wonder Woman."

Dick swallowed. Just like Donna, he knew that Batman and Wonder Woman actually possessed mutual understanding. He also had suspected that both heroes had been in a relationship for a while. But he didn't expect the Batman, of all people, to advise him on a matter such as faith right now.

Nightwing turned his attention back to the two sisters on the battleground.

"If you so desperately want to kill me, kill me then!" He clearly heard Wonder Woman saying that. "Other than my enemies, I would very much prefer my own sister killing me."

Nightwing cast another look at the Batman. Damned Bat! Still calm in this weather!

Wonder Woman didn't even blink. She didn't even reach for her Lasso of Truth. This is Donna Troy, my own sister. I didn't need Hestia's Lasso to reveal the Truth in front of her.

Troia shed a cruel smile. "So sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"If this will reveal you the Truth, then by all means Sister, kill me."

Troia looked at the other woman in the eye. So, she wants to die. Fine! Die, she will!

She readied herself to tighten her grip. Instead, she felt a surging hesitance to continue. A feeling that she actually already felt when she saw her for the first time a few minutes ago, but chose to ignore. This Wonder Woman didn't only let her push, punch, and choke her, apparently she was ready to die for her. She tried to close her eyes and choke her without looking, but couldn't do that.

She could not resist looking into the azure eyes. The deep blue eyes that begged for nothing, but ready to give everything. The soothing blue eyes that dragged her away from her madness, showing her glimpses of motion pictures of another life, so strange, yet so familiar.

Then, like a shower after a year's drought, it came to her. The blinding yet soothing clarity of Truth. What she used to be, what she was now, what she had done, what she was doing now, all came in a flood of Truth.

Donna Troy gasped, hastily removing her hands from her sister's neck.

"Diana...? Rhea help me... what... What did I do?"

Choking but smiling, Wonder Woman reached for her sister's hand.

"Welcome home, my dear Sister."

Feeling a heavy burden lifted up from his shoulder, Nightwing relaxed. On the left corner of his eye, he saw Arsenal loosened his bow gratefully. Next to him, the Batman released an audible exhale.

-TBC-

Author's Note:
Flash carrying the Batman was depicted in JLA Classified #13 (New Maps of Hell). That forced me to dig more into the superluminal (faster than light) travel business, which the Wally West Flash also possesses.

I also deliberately didn't make Diana use the Lasso of Truth to awaken her sister. Wonder Woman didn't need Hestia's Lasso to reveal the Truth to Batman when his body was possessed by Deimos in the Gods of Gotham. Surely she also didn't require the Lasso to bring her sister back.