Dark Angel dropped her hand, blinking in astonishment and licking her lips. "Oh, how interesting," she remarked, smirking sadistically. "So that's why."

Jason wasn't paying attention to her, too busy still struggling against her telekinetic hold. He tried to draw on the All-Blades, but couldn't find the concentration to summon them. Dammit. Dammit!

"You love her," Dark Angel continued, heedless of his turmoil. "Or at least a version of her. Someone from a time that has yet to be — that, perhaps, will never be. How poetic. How tragic. Truly, it tugs at my heartstrings."

Fed up, Jason glared at her. "Fuck off."

Dark Angel ignored him. "It would be a kindness for me to take those memories away. That way, you won't have to pine after a woman long gone from this world, for a love that will never be again."

Jason's eyes widened in horror, and he started struggling even harder. "NO! DON'T YOU DARE! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU EVEN TRY!"

The harbinger's smirk grin widened, as she reached forward to touch his forehead. But before she could, she was bull-rushed by Donna herself, who had managed to recover in the interim. Dark Angel's concentration broke as a result, and Jason fell back to the ground, trying to take in large gulps of air, precious oxygen lost the longer he had been at Dark Angel's mercy. He looked to see the tussling heroine and villainess, watching as Donna tried to punch out Dark Angel, who continued to dodge before shifting back to a titanic size and slapping the other woman away with her large hands.

"DONNA!" Jason called out to her, seeing her seemingly unconscious in a large crater, completely unaware of Dark Angel towering above her, the heel of her foot overhead.

"I tire of this!" Dark Angel boomed, before slamming her foot down. Jason darted forward, desperate to reach Donna before she was turned into paste—

And then Donna glowed.


"The people we used to be don't decide who we are now. We do. So tell me: who do you want to be?"

"I tried to stay away as long as I could. I was such a fool for even trying."

"You always saw the best in me even when I didn't see it in myself. It's you. It's always been you. And if there's anything I'm sorry for, it's that it took us so long to get us to this point."

"FINE! STAY ON THIS ISLAND AND ROT AWAY FOR ALL I CARE! IF YOU WANT TO DENY WHO YOU ARE FOR THE REST OF YOUR IMMORTAL LIFE THEN GO AHEAD!"

"Cassie! CASSIE!"

"She was right. Staying on this island didn't solve anything. It didn't make me immune to tragedy, it didn't wipe away the grief. It just left me alone. And I'm tired of being alone."

"I love you. I've always loved you. Whether it was as a symbol, an idol, a comrade, a friend, a sister, a…a woman, I've loved you. And I'll never stop loving you. And I know you think that none of it was real, that the life you've lived was a lie — but this isn't. It never has been. So please, if you won't believe in anything else… at least believe in that."


Jason stopped his approach, shielding his eyes as he watched the former Wonder Girl glow the same way Kon had done so weeks ago. The aura grew brighter and brighter, blinding everyone in the vicinity as they all came to. Even Dark Angel had stopped in her attack, completely at a loss.

When the light faded away, Donna sat up, a hand to her forehead. She had her eyes closed, her face set in a firm, serious expression, as she slowly stood up and observed her surroundings. Donna swept her gaze over the entire scene, eyes widening and lingering over certain individuals, before finally settling on Jason. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, neither quite comprehending what they were seeing.

"Donna?"

Both glanced at the other side of her to see that Kon had gotten to his feet as well and was gazing at her much the same way Jason was — with grand disbelief and just a tinge of hope. Donna swallowed, but before she could say anything, Dark Angel finally remembered the battle and moved to stomp on her.

Donna rolled out of the way, picking up Diana's lasso in the meantime, which had been involuntarily discarded after the shockwave from Dark Angel. She held it up as if she had used it thousands of times before, looping it before pulling it taut. Jason moved to stand next to her, drawing one of his sticks and transforming it into a sword, while Kon stood on the other side, lifting up so he was only just hovering above the ground. Together, the three faced off a recovering Dark Angel.

Despite her superior size and state of being, the harbinger couldn't help but be intimidated by these three heroes for some reason. However, she pushed the fear away, and swung ahead, intent on slapping them around like she had for most of the battle. They couldn't truly do any better than they had before just because of some random glow, could they?

She was quickly proven wrong.

The moment she slapped her hand down to the ground, the three jumped up, dodging the hand itself if not the shockwave of the blow. Quickly, Kon formed several miniature platforms for both his comrades to use, giving them a direct path up to Dark Angel's face. Jason sped through them as fast as he could, but even at his fastest he could compare to Donna, who was practically bursting with every leap.

She reached Dark Angel, kicking up the gargantuan woman's chin, before using another platform Kon had immediately formed under her to push off of to add some extra oomph to the follow-up punch. Her Amazonian strength in such close proximity was enough to knock Dark Angel down. While she was distracted, Donna glanced back at Jason and, using her lasso, roped it around his wrist, pulling him forward with all her strength and swinging him directly at the falling Dark Angel's face.

He landed on the woman's cheek, using his sword as a sort of climbing pick, causing the villainess to scream in pain. If anything, that just encouraged him more to use it to climb up her sallowed out cheeks to her cheekbones and finally to her eyes. He then sheathed that sword in favor of an All-Blade, which he stabbed directly into her eyeball, causing Dark Angel to scream even louder.

She made to struggle and throw them off, but found she couldn't move her body at all, as if she had been tied up. Unbeknown to her, Kon had bound her the moment she had dropped to the ground with several, invisible telekinetic bonds, not wanting to risk another miraculous second wind like the first time. It was taking all his concentration to hold it, mostly due to the sheer size of her in combination with the strength and thickness of the bonds themselves, but that was fine — it would all be over soon anyway.

Donna dropped from the platform Kon had made for, landing on top of Dark Angel's chest, right above her cleavage. She briskly but calmly walked up that chest, jumped to her tormentor's chin, and then walked up her face, next to her nose and her remaining intact eye. That eye was completely focused on her, building a huge puddle of tears.

"You won't kill me," Dark Angel claimed, though there was an undertone of uncertainty to it.

"No, I won't," Donna agreed calmly, voice svelte. "But that's because I don't need to…Donna Troy, of Earth-7."

Dark Angel's one, remaining eye bulged out, widening in surprise and fear.

"A thousand lives and one," Donna spoke to the world, before reaching over and placing her palm against Dark Angel's enlarged nose. "You and I are always one."

This time, it was Dark Angel's turn to glow white. The aura enveloped her entire being, every inch of her glowing pure white, before slowly turn into particles. The particles became a cloud, which then flowed into Donna's chest. She held her arms out to them, eyes closed and taking slow, but incredibly deep breaths. Once they were all inside her, she closed her arms close to the center, near the metaphorical heart. A another glow of white flared out from her, before quickly disappearing.

The moment it was gone, the Titans and Diana each collapsed as streams of their memories of Donna entered their minds. Kon, Jason, Donna, and Wally all watched as they tried to reconcile with the new information, silently waiting for them to come to terms with it all. Eventually, after several minutes had passed, they gradually came to their senses, with Nightwing being the first to open his eyes and get to his feet.

"I remember…" he whispered, before his eyes landed on Donna. He grew frantic. "Oh my God, Donna! I remember! I'm so sorry about earlier…" he trailed off.

Donna didn't look happy. She didn't look happy at all. No, instead, she was tearful, a hand over her mouth, the Lasso of Truth hanging limply from the other. Dick couldn't help but stare at her.

As the rest of the Titans followed him in their exclamations only to realize the recent, inexplainable emotional state of their friend. They had been victorious, Dark Angel defeated, their memories restored. So why wasn't she happy? Why was she crying?

Even Wally was confused. But if anyone had bothered to look at them, they would've realized that Jason and Kon were not.

Diana was the last of them to remember fully, for whatever reason. She gazed upon her sister with a large smile, only for it to falter when she saw Donna's silent, open-eyed sobs. Slowly, she took a step forward, a hesitant hand reaching out. "Donna? What's wrong?"

Donna look down, before taking the lasso and handing it over to her older sister. Diana gingerly took it, but her concerned eyes were still settled on her younger sibling. "Donna…"

"I…" Donna cut herself off, shaking her head. She crossed her arms and looked away, screwing her eyes closed. Finally, she said, "I remember your funeral, Dick."

The world stopped.

While the Titans and Wally were shocked and horrified (when did Dick die?), Nightwing and Wonder Woman were an entirely different matter. They both grew white in the face, with Diana nearly dropping her newly-reacquired Lasso of Truth. Tentatively, Dick stepped forward with a pleading look on his face. "Donna, don't tell me…" he didn't finish; he couldn't. The thought was too painful to speak of. First his brother, then his brothers' friend, and now his own best friend?

When was it going to end?

Diana thread a hand across her face, similarly distressed. The idea of her sister enduring the kind of pain that she knew Jason and Kon were still suffering even now was a bitter pill to swallow. She knew how much those thoughts were torturing Bruce and Clark, being fully aware of the anguish of their wards but being unable to relate, unable to help. And now, she was in the same boat as them. She had managed to give what comfort she could to Jason, but how could that be enough for her own sister? For Donna?

Donna could sense the turmoil inside them both, but she could not help them. Not with so many long-gone faces at once, not with knowing, instinctively, what had happened to her the moment she had died and awoken again. How could she not, when she had fought alongside Jason and Kon both? For the very first time in eighteen years?

So instead, she turned around to face her fellow time-travelers. Kon was smiling at her, though there was a tinge of bittersweetness to his expression. He had to have known that it had been at least eight years since she had last seen him alive. After all, Jason had died eight years after him, and she had outlived Jason. And Jason…

"You look young."

The words came out, sudden, but fitting in a way.

Jason, still masked but unmistakably smiling, tilted his head in a wistful manner.

"And you haven't aged a day," she whispered back.


Bruce was not having a Good Day.

Granted, Good Days were usually rare things, but had become more frequent ever since Jason came back with two more children in tow. Sure, there was the whole hiccup of Jason's time travel and all, but as time passed he had gotten used to the idea of his son being older than him and acting more like an adult than his current teenage body suggested he was. And after the entire family had finally been let into the secret because of Ra's al Ghul (and while he would never be proud of it being Jason having to do the deed, he wouldn't deny the utter relief in knowing the most dangerous of his enemies was no longer a player in the game), things had calmed down entirely. There was no need to talk around things. There was no need to keep secrets.

But something had been nagging at him since then. He had tried to ignore it, tried to bask in the miracle of having his son back. And it had been easy to do at first, with Jason taking charge and forcing him to be a better person, a better father. Bruce was well aware of his faults, along with his difficulties overcoming them, and it had been so easy to slide back into bad habits when he knew he'd been forgiven for them. An unhealthy, guilt-filled cycle that allowed him to cling to the little vestiges he had of his parents' memories.

Then his son had told him where that cycle led the rest of the family to, and Bruce soon realized he didn't have a choice in the matter. For his family's sake, for Gotham's sake, he needed to stop that. He needed to a better person, if only just a little bit. So he had focused all his energies on that, until he didn't have to think intentionally about it. That being a good father…was just being him.

He could tell that Jason was proud of him. That Alfred and Dick were too. It made him feel…well, good. But having accomplished that goal, that little question that had been hanging on the outskirts of his mind came roaring back in, and he knew it had been bothering Jason too. And now, with Kon-El having come back in time as well, it was at the very top of his head, at the tip of his tongue.

Why are you here? Why were you sent back?

It's not like either of them could answer, of course. He could see it naked on their faces — they didn't know. And there was no way to investigate it, either. Not until they informed the rest of the JLA, allow themselves to touch base with the likes of Doctor Fate or even John Constantine. Because magic, as much as Bruce hated it, was at the core of this. He could feel it, right in his bones.

So, the question lingered. And when questions lingered in Bruce's mind, they tended to make him…irritable, for lack of a better word. He tried not to show it around his children (Jason, Alfred, and Dick would murder him if he did), but he had no issues showing it around the Board of Wayne Enterprises, none of whom except Lucius had ever been his favorite group of people anyway. And all of them damn well knew it.

Which is why today had not been a Good Day. Today had been a Board meeting, and the entire thing had degenerated into a debate over the profitability of one of their clean energy projects. Bruce had already been on edge all day due to the feeling of something missing his mind (which he would later realize were the memories of Diana's sister and Dick's teammate Donna Troy), and after a particularly unpleasant Board member made a comment about his father, Bruce launched into a quiet, but furious tirade directed towards everyone present (except, of course, the ever-trustworthy and affable Lucius Fox) and then ended the meeting early.

Then he got a call from Alfred, telling him that Jason and Kon had inexplicably booked it from the Manor in their superhero identities for some reason, passing on the responsibilities of watching over Damian and Jon and picking up Tim, Stephanie, and Cass to the butler. That had caused him to cut the entire workday short as he tried to figure out what, exactly, had spooked his second eldest son and his time-traveling friend to leave like that. He quickly tried to contact the JLA, only to learn that the Flash was acting strangely, asking people if they knew a woman named Donna Troy and becoming increasingly distressed when they gave him negative answers.

That had prompted Bruce to change into his Batman suit and head over to the Watchtower, but by the time he was there both Flash and Wonder Woman had departed for, of all places, Titans Tower. After quickly kicking Rayner out of the monitor womb, he had pulled up a satellite feed of the Tower and could only watch in horror as everyone present (including his two eldest) battled some giant demon woman before something caused the feed to short out. He had been about to use the emergency teleporters to go there himself and help out only to be stopped by the headache induced by the return of his memories of Troy. Then he had been distracted by calls from the other members of the JLA (and several other superheroes as well) going through the same thing.

And then Diana had called Clark and him back over to Titans Tower. Them specifically. Bruce did not like the implications.


"You told them about the time travel!" Bruce hissed to Diana in a small, far-off corner of the room Clark and the two of them were sharing with the Titans.

Off towards the center of the room, the aforementioned team of young adult superheroes were completely and utterly silent, unable to even so much as look at each other. While those like Argent, Damage, and Jesse Quick, who didn't know Donna as well as the others, were taking the news as well as anyone could, it could not be said of the same for Donna's closest friends. Kori was in tears, and Victor was trying to give her some comfort, while Dick, Roy, Garth, and Wally, the rest of the 'Fab Five', the original founders of the Teen Titans, couldn't even look at each other.

"I had no choice, Bruce," Diana replied tiredly.

"We were supposed to wait until after we informed the rest of the JLA, Diana," Clark said sternly.

"I know. But as I said before, I had no choice."

Bruce gave a small groan. "What happened, Diana?"

The Princess of the Amazons sighed and crossed her arms. "Dark Angel returned and decided she need to kill Donna for whatever reason. But before she did that, she decided she wanted to drive Donna insane first and isolate her from any possible allies. She used her chronokinesis abilities to wipe out all memories and records of Donna from existence. The only ones unaffected by this change were Wally, Jason, and Kon-El."

"Wally quickly realized something was wrong when I failed to recognize Donna's name during a conversation we were having. While he tried to figure out what was going on, Nightwing called Jason for information about Donna. Jason quickly realized what was going on — probably because this happened in the previous timeline as well — and had Kon-El bring them here to help. Then Dark Angel attacked and during the battle…" Diana trailed off, screwing her eyes tightly closed as her bottom lip trembled.

Bruce and Clark exchanged looks, and the latter swallowed. "What happened, Diana?"

"…Donna glowed, Clark. Like Kon-El."

Upon hearing that, both men had an immediate understanding of the situation. Bruce placed a hand on his forehead, muttering something to himself, while Clark reached out and pulled his friend into a hug. "Oh, Diana…"

"She can't even look at any of them, Clark," Diana whispered into his ear, barely holding back tears. "One of the first things she told us is that she remembers going to Dick's funeral. She remembers all their deaths. She remembers our mother's death. She…she…"

Clark pulled her in closer, placing a tentative but comforting hand against the back of Diana's head. "We know, Diana. We know."

"My sister, Clark. Jason was one thing, and so was Kon, but…she's my little sister. And I'm…I'm not sure I can help her."

"You helped Jason, Diana," Bruce pointed out gently. "Just by being a good listener. You can help Donna."

Diana let go of her embrace with Clark to look at Bruce directly, and it was clear he hadn't managed to convince her — not entirely. An awkward silence fell between all three of them, as Diana moved away from Clark back into a small circle, blocking them off from the Titans' earshot.

"So I take it she's with Jason and Kon-El in a separate room right now?" Bruce asked after a minute or so.

"Yes," Diana confirmed, rubbing her arm. "The two of them knew almost immediately what happened. They worked together to take down Dark Angel. It was…It was like watching us." The implications of that statement weren't loss on anyone.

"Jason has been deliberately avoiding mentioning your successor for some reason, but would it be safe to say that it's Donna?"

Diana thought that over before nodding. "Yes. I'd say it's very likely."

Bruce swallowed. "Once is happenstance."

"Twice is a coincidence," Clark continued, catching on.

"And three times is a pattern," Diana finished.

"Actually, in the original quote, it's 'enemy action'," Bruce corrected, though he understandably didn't sound happy about it. "All three of our successors were sent back in time, and at an increasingly higher frequency. Kon-El has only been back for two weeks. And now, Donna. If that continues…"

"…someone might come back as soon as tomorrow," Clark concluded. "End of the next week at the latest."

"What are we going to do? This is too much," Diana spoke mournfully. "We don't even know what's causing this."

"And whether or not whoever is responsible is benevolent. We're basically sitting ducks, waiting for the next catastrophe to come."

The idea wasn't palatable to any of them. They were superheroes, people of action. But they needed a direction, and none of them had one. It was as Clark said — they were sitting ducks.

"Has Donna said how far back she's come from?" Bruce suddenly asked, curious.

Diana looked at him and swallowed again. "She outlived Jason by ten years."

Both men stared at her, before sighing as one. "So to her, Jason has been dead for ten years, and Kon…"

"…has been dead for eighteen," Diana confirmed.

"A lot can happen in one year, let alone ten years, or eighteen," Clark noted. "Kon had a baby son when he died. That means that by the time Donna died, he would have just become an adult. And considering how close she seems to them both, it's unlikely she would've stayed out of his life after his father's death. Jason certainly didn't."

"Meaning that she would have information about the future of our families even they wouldn't have," Bruce said, following that train of thought.

Diana buried her face into her hand. "Hera, what a mess."

Neither of her friends said anything. She was right, after all.


"They're all doing fine," was the first thing Donna said the moment the three of them had privacy. While the conference room of the Titans' base had been destroyed, the rest of the base was still intact. Diana and Dick to the Titans and Wally to the main living room to give them a full rundown of the situation while Jason, Kon, and Donna caught up.

Kon and Jason exchanged a look. "While that's good to hear, Donna, we still need to know: how?" Kon asked, crossing his arms with a serious expression on his face.

Donna diverted her eyes. "Alien invasion. One that had been planned for years in advance. I fought thousands of them off before they finally got me. I used my last breath to shield Terry."

Jason looked up at her at that, an indescribable look on his face. "Really?"

The former Wonder Woman smiled softly, if sorrowfully. "I promised you I would take care of him, didn't I?"

The two of them locked gazes for a moment, before a cleared throat broke the moment. Kon smirked at them both knowingly, before becoming serious again. "How is everyone?"

Donna's smile turned more genuine at the question. "Van is fine. He just graduated from Superboy to Nightwing."

Kon grinned at that. Jason, meanwhile, blinked in surprise. "Really? What about Dam?"

"He shares the Superman mantle with Jon now. Jon figured it was time to cut down on the superheroics now that he was a grandfather and all. Same with Lara. Finally tied the knot with her girlfriend and adopted a kid of her own, which they're both raising on the farm with Hiyori."

The second Superman chuckled. "Wait until Clark hears that. He's a great-grandfather now."

"Yup. Just like how Jason is a grandfather now."

Both men froze. "You serious?" Jason asked, a bit of hope in his voice.

Donna tilted her head fondly. "Clark Wayne-Kent and Bruce Wayne-Kent. Twin boys. Around six years old. They're quite fond of playing with their baby cousin Warren, who was born right before I died."

Jason stumbled back, and Kon quickly grabbed a chair for him to fall into. "Three grandchildren," he muttered, before he began to beam happily, smiling ear to ear. "I'm a grandfather," he said, a hysterical chuckle following that statement. "I'M A GRANDFATHER!" He then shouted, jumping out of the chair.

Both his friends could help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "Settle down, Jay," Kon half-heartedly admonished his friend, still grinning himself. "I get that you're happy, but people are going to start asking questions if they hear you and see a teenager crowing about he's a grandfather to the world."

"Let them!" Jason told him, still smiling, still laughing.

The mirth continued on for a bit before the current situation settled back into their minds. Kon had procured two more chairs for Donna and himself, as it was clear that this talk would be going on for a while.

"I'm glad things worked out for Dam and Helena. And as for Warren…Terry and Dana as well?" Jason guessed.

Donna nodded, still smiling. "Carrie's diner is still going strong, by the way. There are already plans in the works to go international. Matty is doing fine too — he's graduated from Robin to Red Robin. He's now the protector of Bludhaven in Cassandra's stead. She's fine too, by the way. Retired about five years back and is now content being a mentor to future heroes."

Jason nodded absentmindedly along with every word. "What about Penelope?" he asked of his youngest, and sole biological child.

"She's doing fine too. She became Wonder Girl when she was twelve." Donna paused, then said, "And since I'm now dead…I guess she'll soon be Wonder Woman. Provided she wins the tournament and all, which I'm certain she will."

"Wonder Woman…" Jason muttered, this time in awe. "God, I can't believe it…" His son, Batman, and now his daughter would be Wonder Woman. How did this happen? This was more than he could have ever expected.

"What about everyone else?" Kon asked, curious.

And like that, the good cheer on Donna's face drained away, marred by grief. "Wallace died two years after you did, Jason," she quietly confessed, "The Speed Force was damaged again by Thawne and he…he gave his life to restore it. Irey succeeded him as the Flash."

The news of their friend's death hit both men hard. The elation of his family's prosperity left Jason as he ran a hand through his hair, thinking of the cocky but good-hearted man that he had worked with for most of his career as Batman. Kon was similarly upset, shielding his eyes with his hand and inhaling a deep sigh.

"…Anyone else?" Jason finally asked after a moment of silence.

Donna gripped the armrests of her chair. "Kyle."

Jason's head snapped up. "Kyle?" he asked, voice weak.

His friend nodded glumly. "Six years after Wallace. Eight years after you. Two years before me. He used his life force to restore something as well — in this case, the Source. His ring was inherited by Martin."

"God…" Jason leaned back into his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

Kyle and him didn't start off on the right foot, much like Kon and him, but their love-hate friendship was still a friendship, and a long-enduring one. After Kon had died, Jason would even go as far as to say that Kyle was the closest friend he had left outside of the Family. To hear that he had died, when his own son Saarko couldn't have been older than nine or ten…

"Anyone else?" Kon asked quietly, for them both.

Donna shook her head. "No, thankfully. Kaldur is still sticking around, though he told me he planned on retiring by next year, passing on the Aquaman mantle to Prince Arthur. And of course, M'gann is every bit involved in the game as always."

"Well that's something, at least," Kon commented, looking much older than his youthful appearance would suggest.

"Yeah," Donna agreed, sounding much like him: old and worn.

Because that's what all three of them were in the end — three tired veteran superheroes. Three heroes who had just died and come back to life in a past that still seemed like a distant memory. Three heroes who had lost more over the course of their lives than the average person could ever dare to comprehend.

"So what have you two been up to?" Donna questioned them both, crossing her own arms in wonder and a bit of amusement.

Kon shrugged. "Nothing much for me. I've only been back for two weeks. Jason, however, has been a busy little worker bee."

"Like always?"

"Like always."

"Ha. Ha. You two are hilarious," Jason stated blandly.

Donna leaned her right elbow against the arm rest, holding one cheek in the palm of her hand. "What did he do, Kon?"

Kon hummed. "Died again, for one."

The Amazon blinked at that before shooting Jason an admonishing glare. "Jason!"

"It was for Damian and Tim! And I came back, didn't I!"

"That is no excuse! You need to be more careful!"

The two began to bicker earnestly while Kon chuckled and shook his head. "Now this? This brings back memories."

Both of his friends stopped their arguing. "Shut up, Kon," they said as one.

If anything, that caused him to chuckle even more. "I'm glad to see that even after ten years, you two are still on the same page."

Jason and Donna both blinked at that, before glancing at each other again. They both immediately shied away, red in the face. Kon stopped his chuckling, and sighed. "I see you two need to work some things out. I'll be going then. We'll finish this talk later."

"Wait, what—"

"Kon!"

Kon cheekily waved at them both before using his tactile telekinesis to speed out the door and shut it close. He held it down with his powers, whistling and waiting for the shouts and the pounding to eventually die down, using his superhearing to make sure they weren't faking it. After several minutes, the struggle stopped and he heard the two settle down back into their chairs. Content, he stopped with the telekinesis and headed back to the living room, a skip in his step.


The moment he arrived back to the living room, he instantly became the center of attention. He raised an eyebrow at all the stares, leaning against the edge of the door. "What?" he asked.

"Where are Jason and Donna?" Diana asked, lips set in a firm line.

"Talking about some things," Kon answered her, shrugging with one arm. "Personal things," he elaborated.

There was a moment as everyone processed that statement.

"Oh," Dick said, summing things up for them all. Next to him, Roy took a hand to his face. Kon couldn't help but frown at that. It really was a pity — from what he remembered Roy and Donna had been straddling on the line between friends with benefits and an actual relationship around this time. Now he had pretty much lost her without any actual say in the matter, thanks to this random twist of fate.

He could see Batman frowning from the corner of his eye, and frowned even harder. Hopefully that wouldn't be an issue either. He knew things were different now, being in the past and all, and Bruce certainly had no real control over Jason despite what the law said, but it would still hurt his best friend if his father disapproved of his relationship with Donna. Not that it would stop him from dating Donna (even if they couldn't do all the physical stuff yet due to their current physical ages, or even be in a public relationship until Jason's body reached the age of consent), but it would still hurt.

Bruce then sighed. "I need to talk to Jason," he said, moving to leave the room.

Kon stretched his arm out, to the other side of the doorway, preventing him from crossing them the threshold. "Sorry, but I can't let you do that."

There was a collective gasp. Kon tried not to roll his eyes. In his younger years, he might've been like them, but he was not in his younger years. He had been Superman for eight years of his life, had gotten married and had a kid before dying in epic battle against an evil Kryptonian from another universe. Most of all, he had been dealing with Bruce and his brood for practically all his life. And if there's anything he had learned in all those years, it was that, contrary to popular belief, the first Batman was not this uber-terrifying demon from the pits of hell, but rather this intimidating paranoid man-child with way too much money and time on his hands.

He respected Bruce, yes, and he always would, but he had long lost his reverence and fear of the man. Because that was what he was: a man.

"Superboy" Batman growled.

Kon gave him a flat look, before putting on his best 'Superman is disappointed' face. Bruce held steady with his glare for a while, but in the end he must have figured it wasn't worth the trouble and stepped back. This elicited another round of gasps from everyone, causing Kon to actually roll his eyes.

"Look," he finally said, "I know there are important things we all need to talk about. But I watched those two idiots dance around each other for six years. I am not going through that again. So you all are going to wait until they talk things out, and when they get back we can talk about the whole time travel business and the implications there of. Agreed?" He gave them all the 'Superman is disappointed' face for good measure. It wasn't long before they capitulated. "Good."

"This is going to be a growing trend with the three of you, isn't it?" Clark asked in a resigned tone.

Kon shrugged. "Probably. I guess you better get used to it."

No one looked happy to hear that. Kon didn't care.

It wasn't like they could do anything about it anyway.


Woo! Donna's here, yeah! And now we finally resolve all the romantic threads of Jason's love life.

I hoped you enjoy the dynamic of the Neo-Trinity. I've been waiting to write about those three interacting together. I wanted to highlight the difference between them and the originals — while the originals are close, they aren't quite involved in each other's lives like those three are. It helps that Jason, Kon, and Donna knew each other long before they ended up becoming the Trinity, so there's a certain level of familiarity and intimacy that the originals don't have. At least, not to the same extent. And that's not even getting into Jason and Donna's relationship.

But now, people are beginning to realize all the dangerous implications of having three time-traveling heroes back in the past — especially since all three have no idea how they got here. It's the calm before the storm, and everyone knows it.

Next chapter: an interlude, about Jason and Donna.