What could have the Queen both excited and scared at the same time?
This was the thought that was running through Diana's head as she watched her mother walking at a brisk pace just in front of her. There seemed to be a combined sense of hesitancy and excitement at the same time in her step, almost like a child heading down to open presents on Christmas morning except they weren't sure if they were going to get presents or a lump of coal. She had tried to query her mother time and time again as they had walked through the courtyard and into the palace regarding who or what was waiting for them but she had been met with silence as it seemed the Queen was single-minded in her task of waiting until they were inside before she told them what was going on. In the meantime Donna decided to fill the agonizing steps with her own social commentary that had Diana wishing they were engaged in life-threatening battle at that exact moment, as it would have been a much needed distraction and stress-reliever.
"So you and Superman eh? Your babies are going to be a handful you know that?" Donna teased, watching her sister turn a bright shade of red at the mention of the potential that she and Kal may have offspring at some point.
"You're getting way ahead of yourself Donna, I still need to talk to Kal about all of this. There is a lot to sort out here. Things are not as simple as just admitting that we have feelings for eachother and then retiring to a bedroom" Diana responded, although she had to admit privately to herself that there had been several bedroom-related fantasies as of late.
"Of course it's that simple Diana, how do you think Kyle and I got together?"
Diana turned to her sister with wide eyes and open mouth. She could not believe that her sister would have slept with Kyle so soon after admitting to their mutual feelings.
"Oh don't worry, it was worth that just to see the look on your face. Kyle and I were together for almost a year before we were intimate with eachother. It truly is a beautiful moment when you find the right person for yourself. However Diana, you and Kal are not Kyle and myself, you were together for a thousand years and that was just in Asgard. What could you possibly have left to do with him before getting between the sheets?" Donna replied, causing Diana to let out a sigh of relief that her sister had at least waited for a time before sleeping with Kyle.
"That is exactly the reason why it is not simple Donna, because it has been so long that we have known eachother. I did not wait over a thousand years to finally be with that man to rush anything. I want to feel every sensation when we are together and I want to remember every detail"
Donna watched as her sister spoke regarding her desires to take things slow with Kal with a certain degree of delight. The smile on her face spoke volumes as to how she was feeling and Donna truly could not remember the last time that she had seen her sister so happy. She privately hoped that Superman did indeed feel as strongly about her as she did about him.
Diana had to admit to herself that her stomach had been full of butterflies ever since she realized that soon she would reveal to Kal what was in her heart. She was exceedingly nervous despite many attempts to quell her fears. She was an Amazon, she did not feel fear in the most intense battles when blood was running through the soil under her feet, and yet here she was, nearly shaking with concern. However, she managed to stow these thoughts in the back of her mind for the moment as she entered into the palace throne room where two women stood waiting.
Both Diana and Donna could not help but gasp and immediately stop in their tracks as they immediately recognized one of them. The slightly shorter woman on the right was Hera, Queen of the Olympian Gods, the all-powerful goddess herself. She was dressed in a dark purple evening gown that seemed to glow with an unearthly light, and wore a simple golden tiara over her light brown hair that sparkled with the dust of a thousand stars. Both sisters were immediately drawn to her eyes before anything though as they shone with a multitude of colours, almost as if her irises were twin rainbows and her face was made of the reflecting sunlight. She was truly a sight to behold, and she stood with the authority that she knew that she had, and yet still managed to smile in a way that made people around her feel at ease.
Hippolyta quickly bowed separately to both women which surprised Diana and Donna, who had initially only bowed to Hera. Who besides the Queen of the Gods would their mother actually bow in respect to? Hera immediately noticed the confusion on their faces and addressed them directly in a voice that seemed to lightly echo around the palace walls.
"Hippolyta, do not tell me that you did not tell your daughters who they would be seeing today? That is horribly cruel" Hera said, allowing a musical laughter to enter into her voice.
"Apologies Goddess, I was not sure what you wished me to reveal to them prior to this moment. I figured it prudent to allow you and your guest the courtesy of explaining the situation yourself" Hippolyta responded shortly, bowing slightly again to the Queen.
Hera waved her hand dismissively in the air, "Do not worry Queen of the Amazons, I appreciate you waiting for that reason. The last thing I would want is a situation as important as this to be misinterpreted in any way. As a goddess I am very aware of having a message be misinterpreted. Now let me speak to your lovely daughters about what exactly it is that we are dealing with here".
Hera then turned to Diana and Donna and indicated the woman on her left. Diana could not help but be in awe of the beauty of the tall woman that stood next to the Goddess, who even when standing next to Hera, still managed to stand out. She was clearly another goddess, which confused Diana as she had met the entire Greek Pantheon personally and did not recognize the woman before here. She wore a floor-length white dress that seemed to be made out of living silk as it flowed in the breeze with an almost unnatural sway, that seemed to mimic the way her shoulder-length black hair shifted, as if she were constantly moving from side-to-side. Her dark olive skin shone in the afternoon light, emitting an intense energy that Diana could literally feel from six feet away, immediately knowing that the woman who stood before them was an extremely powerful being. She wore a set of golden earrings with strange ancient symbols on them and a necklace with a small engraving of a young man's face. Her eyes sparkled like twin aquamarine gems, which despite their beauty still seemed full of an intense sadness that nearly broke Diana's heart in seeing it. She knew that look all too well at this point in her life, it was the look of a woman who had lost her soulmate.
"Diana and Donna, Princesses of Themyscira, it is my great pleasure to introduce Isis, Egyptian mother goddess of nature" Hera said, indicating the woman who nodded and smiled at the two sisters in a way that said to them that she could be trusted.
Diana did not consider herself a trusting woman despite being a living goddess of truth as she had seen so much betrayal and evil in the world, so she was surprised how easy it was to trust this woman immediately, despite the fact that she had yet to even speak a single word since they had entered the room. However, Diana was going to trust this instinct she had until she had reason to believe otherwise and with that she bowed to the Egyptian goddess.
"We are honoured to have you in our home Isis" Diana said, noticing immediately that the woman frowned upon being greeted like this and sighed loudly.
"It is I who is honoured to be here in your beautiful Grecian homeland. Unfortunately Princess, you will most likely not feel so honoured once you hear why it is that Hera and myself are here" Isis said, looking grimly at Hera, who looked nervous all of a sudden.
Diana was shocked and exchanged a quick worried glance with her sister who looked equally surprised. What could possibly scare the Queen of the Amazons and two immortal powerful goddesses?
"You are wise to be concerned. Let me tell you a brief story. My husband is Osiris, God of the Underworld, similar to your Hades in that way. I have loved him from the moment I first saw him. Thousands of years ago he was tricked and brutally mutilated by his treacherous brother Set, the God of Chaos. However, as you know it is very difficult to kill a god and over the next century I and my servants were able to find all the parts of his body that Set had scattered across the world. Putting these pieces back together and with help from some of the other gods I was able to resurrect my husband and we were reunited. Despite being whole yet again, he is still technically dead, and he has been confined to his underground throne ever since then. I love my husband greatly and I know that to return him to true life would be the ultimate blessing for me" Isis could not help it as her voice broke at the end of her explanation.
Diana recognized the pain all too well, and it briefly made her thoughts drift to Kal, remembering his death at the hands of the monster Doomsday and how she had been unable to do anything. She had never cried in her life up to that point but she could not help it as the tears had flown upon learning of his death, having been brutally beaten to death. She tried to mask her remembrance of this pain but Isis caught it immediately.
"You are familiar with the death of someone you love Amazon?" Isis queried Diana gently.
"Yes. The man I love was brutally beaten by an otherworldly monster called Doomsday. He is a hero. He managed to subdue the creature moments before succumbing to the severity of his injuries. I, like you, was powerless to save him, but another otherworldly force managed to bring him back" Diana said, causing Isis' crystal tears to fall as she reached forward and drew Diana into a warm motherly embrace.
"It is for this reason that I have come to Themyscira and enlisted the aid of your mother and the Queen of the Grecian Gods. The mystical properties of this island and the assistance from some of the Grecian Pantheon have the power, when combined with my magics, to bring my husband back to true life" Isis said, drawing back from the hug and wiping away her tears.
"I notice that Isis only said some of the Grecian gods are giving her assistance. Am I to assume that is why everyone is so nervous?" Donna said, causing Hippolyta, Hera, and Isis to all briefly nod at the same time.
"As you can imagine, the prospect of aiding another group of deities is not the most popular proposal amongst the Olympian court. Zeus is very worried himself that the true resurrection of Osiris will bring a challenge to his power. He is always so worried about that. He will not interfere because he knows that I am involved, but he also will not help either...he is difficult that way" Hera said, sighing at that last point regarding her husband's disagreeable nature.
"What we are afraid of is the interference of Set in the ritual. Set is the God of Chaos and Violence, a living monster of a god, and more powerful than all except Lord Ra, the Egyptian Sun-King of the Gods. Ra, like your Zeus, will not interfere because he does not consider the Grecian lands his domain, something regarding a truce he made with Zeus thousands of years ago. Set is afraid of the return of his brother, believing that it will amplify his failure that he was unable to completely destroy him, and that Osiris will seek vengeance for what was done to him" Isis said, with a look on her face that suggested to Diana that vengeance against Set was exactly what she wanted.
"If I may Princess, who is the man that you have deemed worthy of your affection? He was must be an extraordinary being indeed" Isis smiled at Diana as she turned slightly pink at the mention of him.
"His otherworldy name is Kal-El, his name given by his adoptive parents is Clark Kent, and the world knows him as Superman" Diana said, causing Hera to let out a small giggle, which caught Hippolyta off guard as she had barely seen the Queen of the Gods smile before.
The reaction that caught everyone off guard was Isis', who let out an audible gasp of shock.
"The Superman is the one you love?! This could change things greatly" Isis said, visibly shaken by the revelation of Diana's love's identity.
"What do you mean?" Diana asked, having been extremely surprised at Isis' shock and frantic nature. She was not surprised that Isis knew of Superman, the whole world knew who he was and Kal had done much work in Egypt over the years.
"The Superman is heavily favoured by Ra. He is the Egyptian God of the Sun, and as you know, Superman draws his power from the sun. Ra considers him a walking embodiment of all that is good in the world. A solar-being representation of the greatest strengths of this planet. You are probably not aware but the Kryptonian god Rao is an old friend of Ra, and prior to the destruction of Krypton, Rao asked Ra to keep an eye on the Last Son of his planet. He has watched over young Kal-El since he was born, and has a certain level of pride in his development into the Superman that he is today. I know Ra has decreed that he will not interfere, but if Superman was threatened, that could change things" Isis explained, causing Diana's eyes to widen in surprise. She had essentially just said that Ra was Kal's unofficial godfather, both literally and figuratively.
"Why did he not save Kal the last time he was in trouble? Doomsday beat the man I love to death, and he stood by and did nothing" Diana said, causing Isis to momentarily look saddened but then quickly responded.
"Ra could not interfere in that case as he has no power over beings from other worlds, like Doomsday. It is the nature of the gods, to be unable to interfere with that outside our domains. Something of a power-check to keep us from getting galactic ambitions so to speak. However, Superman draws his power from the Earth's yellow sun, which is under Ra's domain, so he is able to help him that way despite his otherworldly origins".
Diana accepted that response, briefly remembering that Kal had seemed to be able to take the punishment from Doomsday during his fight longer than he would have prior to that moment, also that up until his death there was not a cloud in sight and the sun had shone brightly in the sky. Could Ra have been helping Kal just enough to assist him in defeating the creature? Diana dismissed the thought as quickly as it had appeared. Kal was alive and back now and that was all that mattered to her.
"Regardless of Ra's favour towards Superman, we cannot depend on a wild-card possibility. We need to figure out what the next steps are. We must tread carefully as we have no idea when Set will arrive or what manner of creatures he has been able to recruit to his dark ways" Hera said, causing everyone around her to nod in agreement.
"The stars will be aligned in the proper way for the ritual to resurrect my husband in three days. We need to be ready for battle before then" Isis said, her smile vanishing, replaced by a dark and ancient anger that Diana could tell was motivated by one simple motive...vengeance.
"We will discuss the next steps here. Diana, contact the Justice League. We are going to need all the help we can get. Inform J'onn that I have granted permission for the men of the League to set foot on the island to assist in the preparations. I also do not need to tell you how serious this situation is that I would grant such an invitation as I do not particularly approve of several of your male allies, especially the one you call the Flash. He tends to be a bit…brash when it comes to addressing some of the Amazon warriors he runs into" Hippolyta said, briefly frowning and forcing Diana to suppress a grim. Referring to Wally as brash when it came to Amazonian women was a polite understatement.
"I understand mother. I will call to my League colleagues immediately" Diana bowed to both her mother and the two goddesses and hurried out of the palace throne room, followed quickly by her sister.
"Wow, this is crazy Diana. Goddesses who are actually afraid, resurrecting gods, and forces of chaos marching on Themyscira. This could be really bad. Why are we helping this foreign goddess in the first place? I mean I understand she lost her husband but why should we get involved?" Donna queried. Diana knew that her sister was just wondering why several Amazons, including themselves, and their Justice League allies, could die because of this situation.
"While I do not know the whole reasoning behind why my mother and Hera agreed to help Isis, I can tell you this, both women as you know have had extreme issues when it comes to men. I do not have to remind you of Zeus' infidelities or what Heracles did to mother. We wear these bracelets to remind ourselves of what that monster did, you know that. The fact that Isis actually loves her husband dearly and he loves her back, speaks volumes to both of them. Also, from what I understand of the Egyptian pantheon, and possibly the larger reason, the return of Osiris to the earth, would bring about a balance to the scales. Ever since the death of Osiris, chaos in the form of Set has been allowed to run rampant across the globe. Donna you know that war and death run amok in this world, we see it every day in our League duties. The opportunity to balance the scales is what 'Justice' is all about. We have no choice but to help Isis try to bring her husband back. Chaos must be kept in check and violence must be quelled" Diana said, and with that her sister nodded and clasped hands with her.
"I am with you Diana, through all of this" Donna said, holding her sister's hands tightly.
"But right now I think you have more pressing concerns than preparing for a war" She said, smiling at her sister.
"What are you talking about? What could be more important than this?" Diana said, then noticed Donna was pointing gleefully at something behind her.
Diana allowed herself to turn around and a slight cry of surprise escaped her lips before she clasped her hand over her mouth.
"Kal!"
Floating in the sky before her was Kal himself, hovering just above the edge of the balcony, his red cape and dark hair billowing in the evening wind, making Diana's heart turn upside-down and begin to thump so loudly that she knew that Kal had to have heard it. The frown that appeared on his face indicated that he had heard.
"Diana, we need to talk" Clark said, his voice laced with steel resolve. Nothing was going to stop him from speaking his heart to Diana, but he noticed the nervous fluctuation in her heartbeat, it was practically pounding in his ears. What was wrong?
"Yes Kal, we do need to talk" Diana responded, reaching out to take Kal's hand, as he immediately grasped hers, and they both closed their eyes, briefly enjoying the warmth of the simple touch, as he floated down so he was standing directly across from her.
Donna was grinning ear-to-ear as she watched them seem to get lost in eachother's eyes, completely blind to all else around them. It was truly a sight to behold, and if Donna had had any doubts about Superman's feelings for her sister, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Diana erased them immediately.
"I'll leave you two alone then" Donna said, not allowing herself to become annoyed when they did not even acknowledge that she had spoken. She beamed as she turned and began to walk away before running right into Hippolyta, who stood there, flanked by General Philippus and no less than twenty of Themyscira's finest warriors.
"Superman, what are you doing on my island? You were not invited" Hippolyta said, surprising Diana by the anger that laced her tone, and also that she was standing there in the first place.
"Your majesty, Hippolyta, I apologize for my abrupt arrival, but I have an urgent matter that I need to discuss with Diana" Clark said, bowing before the strong and stern-faced Amazon Queen. He was slightly put-off by the harsh intrusion of Diana's mother as he could not wait another second before telling Diana how he felt about her. It was like he was racing against an unseen clock.
"Urgent matter? You've known my daughter for over a thousand years and you expect me to believe that this matter could be urgent?" Hippolyta said, placing her hands at her hips and raising her right eyebrow.
"Yes your majesty. I have been a fool to not have discussed this with your daughter sooner. That is my error and I will lift heaven and earth to make it up to her, but I must speak with her" Clark said, bowing even deeper in respect and pleading.
"Mother please! He needs to speak with me. You said we had to call out to the League. He is here now. Let me talk with him!" Diana said, surprised that she was just as frantic as Kal regarding the prospect of them talking. The situation seemed absurd. They had had thousands of conversations, why would Kal be so excited and anxious for this one? He had never behaved this way before.
"I do not care daughter. He was not invited immediately. He must return to his Justice League Watchtower and await instruction for when he is supposed to come here with everyone else. You will stay here as we need you to help us plan our battle strategy" Hippolyta said, still maintaining a cold glare towards the man with his head down before her.
Clark raised his head and Hippolyta briefly thought she saw a flash of glowing red in his pupils as he spoke in a calm tone, laced with an ice that she had never heard before.
"I must speak with Diana your majesty, and if I have to I will take her away from here. This cannot wait"
Diana was as surprised as her mother by Kal's tone. It was filled with a resolve that she had never heard before. It was the voice of someone who was not going to be argued with, and had the power to back up his words. What could he possibly have to say to me?
"Disobeying a direct order from the Queen of the Amazons and threatening to kidnap the Princess are extreme offenses Superman. Are you willing to risk the wrath of this entire nation just so you can speak to my daughter?" Hippolyta said, causing Clark to briefly close his eyes before opening them and locking stares with an open-mouthed Diana. The words were out of his mouth before he could even think, spoken directly and simply from the heart, and soaked in hardened determination.
"Yes I am"
"Then you have signed your own death warrant Kryptonian. My warriors are equipped with the magic weaponry necessary to deal with a being such as yourself. Are you sure it is worth risking your life to speak to her?" Hippolyta questioned, as Diana began to move forward in protest, but was surprised when Kal cut both of them off.
"Yes I am" Clark said, his voice dark and determined.
"So be it then. Amazons attack!" Hippoltya yelled, stepping back and pointing towards Clark.
"No mother, stop, don't do this!" Diana cried out, reaching for her mother's outstretched hand. She was actually going to strike her own mother, her Amazon Queen, all to protect the man that she loved. She would not be denied, not now, not ever again.
She was an Amazon, she was meant to feel this way.
Clark took a ready fighting stance as the group of Amazons approached. This was not going to be easy, but he would not be stopped, and he was going to risk his life to do it. He had always tried to be polite to the Amazon Queen and their people, even to the Bana woman Artemis who constantly tried to goad him into confrontation, but this time was different. Something had been awakened inside his heart, a raging inferno of emotions for the woman that was now behind a group of charging trained guards and a very angry Queen. Despite what was about to happen, that he could possibly die at the blade of Diana's people, he did not care, this was where he supposed to be. He was no longer a fool and he knew exactly what he had to do.
I am a man in love and I have found what I have been searching for.
A/N: Ha! Cliffhanger! Love it! Next up it's Superman vs. The Amazons. What is Hippolyta up to now? What will happen when Diana lashes out at her mother to protect Clark? Find out next time!
