The Return of My Sister
Rated: K
The Return of Donna Troy, sans the horrible Trinity break-up. Preparation of the battle against the Titans of Myth. Donna-Roy talking, Diana-Donna sharing. What are Batman's and Wonder Woman's roles gonna be? Took place after 'The Black Snow'. Thanks to Jennifer Larissa for the great beta reading and all the readers. 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 3. Calm Before the StormBatman and I had arrived in Mynosyss less than a day ago, but we had been busy preparing for the upcoming battle. There was no doubt that the Titans of Myth would attack this small planet soon, in a final attempt to conquer it. To be more precise, they were seeking to obtain by force access to the deadly weapons located within the planet's bowels.
After Donna regained her memory of her pre-death life, Kid Flash had quickly asked us to follow him to a cave within Mynosyss' crust. I remembered Donna had stood in silence as she recognized what malice had been stored beneath the planet. I also registered that Starfire's expression had changed into a morbid fear upon examining the strange structures and machineries in the cave.
"What is this place?" I had asked Donna and Kory earlier.
"It's like an old refinery..." Wonder Girl had commented as well. She had arrived in the cave a few minutes after Donna and me, despite my previous objection to her coming down with us.
"I..." Starfire had tried to speak. "I recognize this machinery."
"So do I." There had been terror in Donna's expression. "It's...it's a sun-eater factory. Rhea help me. I remember everything now. The Titans of Myth don't want to destroy this weapon. They want to use it!"
Sun eaters. Machines that possessed the capability of destroying any stars and their civilizations. It was quite a shock to know you were staring at an array of deadly sun eaters and I had to admit that the revelation had scared me as well. At the very least, it had made me realize the importance of defending this tiny planet, for Gaea's sake!
Hence, all the Titans and the Outsiders were preparing themselves to help protect the Mynosyss inhabitants. Nightwing and Cyborg had conducted a meeting with Athyns of Karrakan, Donna's Titans of Myth brother. Naturally, Batman had joined the tacticians. Despite his success in maintaining a stoic expression, I knew that he was enraged with what the Titans of Myth had done to the Mynosyssians, let alone upon learning the Gods' actual intention of seizing the sun-eaters. Kid Flash and Beast Boy had been helping the refugees with food and shelter, gaining trust from the scared and, understandably, suspicious natives.
I helped with the clean up, mainly with the little children and the wounded. Naturally, at my side was Raven, the empath and healer of the Titans. But the number of casualties was high, forcing us to split our resources between strategic planning and paramedic works. Jade also helped me in the bivouacs, while Shift went somewhere to do an errand for the tacticians.
I tied up the last bandage I applied to my final patient – a little girl, perhaps equivalent to Lian Harper in age, though I wasn't sure how the Mynosyssian biology worked. Initially, she was scared of me. Her mother had more severe injuries, and was sleeping next to her under a sedative. The little girl had refused my help for a while, but had finally given up and let me attend to her wounds. All the while, I sang her a traditional Themysciran lullaby, trying to soothe her mood. I was apparently quite successful, as she stopped crying and just looked at me sleepily.
"Are you sleepy, little sister?" I knew that she wouldn't understand my language, but she seemed to get what I meant. She sighed and leaned her head over me, her hand playing with my cape. Soon, she drifted to Morpheus' realm. Good for her.
"Is she the last one, Wonder Woman?" Jade approached me, carrying a container of dirty bandages and other used medical supplies.
"For the moment, yes." Stroking the little girl's hair, I heaved a sigh. It is such a terrible experience to be forced to witness war in front of your very eyes, especially as a small child. This little girl reminded me of Bruce and all the nightmares he had endured so far. Carefully, I placed the little girl properly on her emergency divan. Silently standing up, I collected all the bandages, cottons and other stuffs I used to attend to her and her mother's wounds and put them in Jade's container.
"I'll help you with that," I offered.
"S'okay. I'm going to incinerate them anyway." Jade said as she left the bivouac.
After making sure all the patients were either sleeping or resting as comfortably as they could, I also left the emergency tent. I cleaned myself, tidied my bustier, blue metal plated skirt, and cape, and then looked around for Donna and Cassandra. Though I was worried about Cassie's injuries, I didn't express that in front of Donna. She had enough regrets on her plate already for beating Cassie up. She had even asked me several times if my neck had been okay, to ensure that she didn't hurt me so.
So far, we hadn't have time to share sisterhood moments: we had been busy with the cleaning up and strategic meetings. Perhaps, now was the proper time to talk to her.
xxx
Donna Troy, the former Goddess of the Moon of the Titans of Myth, entered the dimmed cave slowly. She had just finished attending to the wounds of some of the patients. She had thought that she would bump into Diana in one of the bivouacs, but she didn't. Perhaps she's in another bivouac. Or joined the tactician meeting.
Being resurrected turned out to be a grim business – especially when you were reborn as a goddess-wannabe who was used by your beloved God-parents to destroy any civilizations for their glory. That thought had made her sick, to the brink of hating herself. She desperately needed Diana now, and to her dismay, she couldn't find her sister.
Yet, to her relief, she found another person she had been looking for, sitting next to the fire.
"Sorry about your shoulder."
"Well, I thought I was a good shot." Arsenal tried to dress the wound on his right shoulder with one hand. "Guess those archery lessons paid off, eh?"
Roy Harper, the adopted son of the infamous Green Arrow, looked up to study his friend. Nah, not only friend. Lover. Prior to her death, Donna had been his lover. He wanted to say how much he had missed her presence, her unique way of soothing the turmoil within him. But instead, he just sat there, admiring the slim beauty in front of him, the exact Princess he had fallen in love years ago, when he was the Speedy of the Teen Titans.
Only her attire was different now.
"You gonna fight crime in that outfit? Those heels could be used as a deadly weapon..."
During the last battle to defend Sparta of Synriannaq and to defeat Wonder Girl, Donna had damaged her black outfit and armor. But, instead of changing into a stronger armor, Donna had opted for her traditional black outfit, only with a significant cleavage, a black eagle-patterned chokerneck, and an additional pair of arm bracelets. Not to mention a pair of high heeled silver boots.
Always the lady of fashion, she smiled. "You would know." She reached for Roy's bandage. "Here. Let me help you with that."
"Thanks." Arsenal grinned. He added carefully. "You holding up?"
The baby blue eyes suddenly got misty.
"I..." she struggled to find the right words. "Oh, God...Roy...It's all starting to hit me. What I've done...what I've been a part of..." She trembled. Slowly, small silver rivers ran down her cheek.
Grasping Donna's hand, Roy sighed.
"Listen...you've gotta know that this isn't your fault. But you've got to be strong now because you know things the others don't about the Gods and their plans." He stopped for a while to observe the crying ex-goddess. "You need to be strong for these people, Donna."
Donna remained silent for a while, then sniffed.
"Thank you for coming after me, Roy." She forced herself to smile. "I love you."
Roy looked into her eyes tenderly. "Feeling's mutual, kiddo. You can win this fight, Donna. You can be the warrior you were always meant to be."
"Yeah..." she wiped her tears away. "You can say that again..."
"Speaking of warriors –" Arsenal frowned. "– I honestly didn't expect to have Wonder Woman arriving in that exact moment. I thought that Raven would have to knock your head instead."
"Well...yeah... Athyns told me just now that he sent the second travelsphere to her not long after I broke free of the energy chain. He thought that being my twin sister, Diana would be able to snap me back into reality. Which she did, thank Rhea."
She stopped, remembering something. "He didn't send the sphere to Batman, though. I don't know how he could possibly be interested to –"
"– be an inter-galactic detective like this?" Arsenal smirked. "Perhaps he just wanted to make sure that Dick was gonna be okay."
"Well... doesn't sound like him, no? I mean, baby-sitting Dick to the other end of the universe."
"Nope, but speaking of which..." Roy gestured to the cave entrance. "... you might just wanna ask her that."
Donna turned to see Diana of Themyscira walking in. She smiled brightly upon looking at her sister.
xxx
"Donna." I sped up and hugged her.
"Di..." My sister embraced me with such longing that made me want to cry.
"Shush...everything is going to be alright, Sister. I promise you that..."
She didn't say anything, just kept burying her head in my shoulder. I felt her shoulders shuddering. She was crying.
"Donna...sweet sister..." I looked around to find Arsenal sitting on a flat stone. The archer gave me a 'she's-gonna-be-fine-she-just-need-some-time' look, then stood up.
"Nice to have you here with us, Wonder Woman," Roy greeted me.
"Your wounds are taken care of?"
"Couldn't be better." He flashed his mischievous smile that had melted my sister's heart. "Listen, I gotta find Nightwing. You look after her for me, will ya?"
Grateful for his understanding, I nodded. As soon as he walked away, I lead Donna to sit down again.
"Diana..." she looked at me hopelessly.
"It wasn't your fault." Knowing what was in her mind, I simply stated the truth.
"But so many died...for nothing..."
"Not if we can make this right. And we will make this right. Donna," grasping her hand, I looked at her intently in the eye. "We need you to be strong now. We need you to help us protect Mynosyss and the universe, even. I cannot do that; I do not know what is in the minds of the Titan Gods."
She looked at me in such a way, as if she had already heard it before.
"But I do know that Donna Troy, the Troia, my twin sister, will never let these people down. And I have a strong faith in her."
She blinked her tears away.
"I almost hate myself," She whispered to her boots.
"There's nothing to hate in your beautiful self," I tucked a stray of her hair behind her ear. "You were not aware of what you did, hence, it wasn't your responsibility."
She looked at me again. "I saw you, Diana. In my dreams. I saw you and the Titans. And the Outsiders."
I smiled. "I saw you in my dreams, too..."
Her piercing blue eyes drilled my heart. "We have a lot to talk about..."
Oh, yes. Definitely.
"Yes." I tapped her hand.
"One of them is... what is Batman doing here? Not that I'm not grateful, his tactician mind is very useful now to assist Nightwing and Cyborg."
I grinned. "I think Sister, that's included in the 'a lot to talk about'."
Donna arched her eyebrows. "Is that so?"
"Yes. But first, we have to help these people." First things first. Gossiping with Donna could definitely wait.
Brushing away a lock of her starry hair (How did she get that effect? Must be the moon power), Donna nodded. "I gotta meet the tacticians. There are things to discuss with them. But first, I want to visit Cassie."
We both walked further inside the cave, to another chamber where Raven was using her power to heal Wonder Girl. We saw Cassandra floating in the air, supported by the empath's power.
"Raven? How is she?" Donna hesitantly entered the healing chamber.
"Her ribs are cracked, but her body is strong. She'll heal." The short-haired empath responded without wavering her attention to Wonder Girl.
"It's all that Olympian blood you've got pumping through you." Donna approached my other sister, placing her hand on her shoulder. "You know, if you're Zeus' daughter, that makes me your aunt. Sort of..."
"Yeah?" Despite her cracked ribs, Cassie grinned. "Aunt Donna... I might have to get used to that..."
Apparently, watching Wonder Girl still attempt to make jokes, despite what had happened, made Donna feel guilty again.
"Cassie..." Donna faltered again. "...I'm so sorry..."
Wonder Girl looked into Donna's eyes. "It wasn't you attacking me, Donna. Back then, you were not even there."
Donna remained silent for a while, shifting from one leg to the other. She finally smiled, realizing the implication of Cassie's words. True, it wasn't Donna Troy who attacked Wonder Girl. The real Donna wouldn't have done that.
Cassie smiled back, then turned to me. "Hi, Diana! Got your ticket to Mynosyss, after all?"
"Apparently so. Return ticket, I hope." I took Cassie's palm on my hand. "You will heal soon, Cassandra. You have immense power to do so."
"Yeah..." She cast her eyes heavenward. "Then I could face my uncles and aunties in New Cronus..."
"We will be ready." My eyes darted to the chamber entrance, where Nightwing and Cyborg had just walked in with Athyns. Batman followed behind, only to stop at the entrance, watching us; his cape silently flowing behind him.
Upon noticing his presence, Donna tilted her head to the Dark Knight. "Glad to have you here, Batman."
His respond was a mere nod, and a slight smile on his face. But my sister recognized that, and smiled back brightly.
"Wonder Woman," Richard Grayson greeted me.
"Nightwing. Cyborg." Afterwards, I faced the giant Athyns. I smiled. This noble warrior had been my sister's brother during her times in New Cronus. In a way, he was also my brother, then.
"Glad you make it with the travelsphere, Wonder Woman. Batman has been helping, too."
"Please, it's Diana." I had almost given up trying to tell Nightwing and other close friends to just call me 'Diana'. But with the relatively new comers like Athyns, it might work. I didn't even bother to explain how Batman had got here, as Athyns didn't ask anyway.
"Well, Diana, I need to borrow Donna for her assistance. You may join us, of course."
I nodded. Cyborg produced a transparent chart and proceeded to discuss the upcoming arrival of the New Cronus troops. Ten thousand Tamaraneans, plus the Gods and Goddesses themselves. I grimaced. We truly had to move fast.
xxx
After a brief meeting (in which Bruce had also joined), we split up to prepare for battle. Donna went with Nightwing and Athyns to an open space where we would have our defense. Other Outsiders and Titans also went to prepare themselves. I had advised Cassie against joining the army, but of course the Wonder Girl had defiantly resisted.
I went out of the cave to retrieve my weapons that I stored behind a set of stones not far from the cave entrance.
Correction. Our weapons.
I turned to see the Dark Knight walked to my current position. I smiled. We hadn't talked much ever since our arrival here.
"Good meeting?"
"Depends on what your definition of 'good' is." He took out the crossbow, examining its release mechanism.
"Fruitful? Is there a chance that we will win, despite our numbers?"
He swung his battle-axe here and there. "Numbers are not everything."
"True, but they help."
He stopped. "You don't have faith in this war?"
"I do. I was just trying to be realistic here."
"Then don't say that in front of them. It will make us loose the battle before it starts."
I scowled. "Don't teach me the proper war strategy, Batman. I am a born warrior, after all. I know what to say and what not to say to the soldiers."
He clenched his jaws tight. "These are soldiers that consist of Mynosyssian commoners."
"That's all we have now."
"Commoners that will definitely die facing the wrath of Titan Gods."
"I know who our enemies are. That's why I was worried."
"Titan Gods of Myth! Who killed many innocents just for thirst of blood and glory!"
I blinked. The Batman had just yelled at me. True, we often had arguments during League meetings, which lead to both of us scolding each other. But, he usually only yelled during the battles because of the magnitude of the situation. And this was not yet that urgent.
Unless...there was something else.
"Br...Batman..." I managed to restrain calling him 'Bruce'. Not really a good strategy, at the time of war. "What happened?"
He went into silent mode. Only his clenched jaws and fists told me of his anger.
"What's wrong?" I tried again a while later, as he seemed not in the mood of conversation. Not that was atypical for the Dark Knight...
"What's wrong!" He finally snapped. "What's wrong with killing thousands of innocents, mostly women, children, and ill men? You really have to ask that, Diana!"
I pressed my lips. "I see. I understand that you're angry with this. But we'll get through this, I'm sure."
"How!" He faced me now, anger clearly emanating from his usual composure. "Diana, you tell me, how we could defeat ten thousands of Tamaraneans under the control of the Gods? Not to mention the Gods themselves that will surely handle the battle directly!"
I frowned. "You're the tactician, Bruce. You tell me how. I'm sure you've made plans, somehow."
"I have plans. But I don't tell them that I have near zero faith that we will win."
"Bruce..."
"These are the Titans of Myth, Diana – the Gods that almost wiped out the Olympians. How would you defend us from them? From lunatic gods who are able to burn us, drown us, and trick our mind with their powers?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but halted. He hadn't finished yet.
"How do you keep the faith of your Olympian Gods... when their ancestors are evil blood-thirsty semi-gods like the Titans?"
-TBC-
Author's note:
I'm not sure if Donna saw Diana in her dreams during her days in New Cronus. 'The Return of Donna Troy' only depicted the Titans and Outsiders in Troia's dreams. But, hey, Diana is Donna Troy's sister. Surely Troia should have a residual memory of Wonder Woman!
The dialogs between Roy, Donna, and Cassie (sans Diana) were taken from the Return of Donna Troy #3.